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This Week In Baseball History


Mar 13, 2019

Batting helmets have become such an entrenched part of baseball that it's easy to forget not only that they once weren't required, but that making them mandatory was a fifty year process, full of fits and starts. One of those starts took place 78 years ago this week, when the Dodgers announced they'd require their batters to wear a helmet invented by Lee MacPhail. Did it succeed? Mike and Bill look back at the history of helmets and the struggle to prioritize player safety in the face of tradition and embarrassment. Plus, happy birthday to Steve Finley and Marty McManus (and Bill)!