New batting helmets

The new baseball batting helmets, which offer better protection and which Minor League Baseball players will be required to use starting in 2010, have been the subject of several articles for the past few weeks. Now, courtesy a link that Rob Neyer put on his blog, here is a picture of David Wright wearing one of those helmets. Wright recently came off the disabled list after being beaned in the head and decided to use the new helmets, which look ridiculous (as you can see from the picture) but which offer better protection. Several Major League players have stated they don't want to wear these helmets because of how ridiculous they look despite the extra protection they offer. (If you look through old newspapers, you will find similar comments about things like catching mitts, the original helmets, etc, so it's not like this type of resistance is anything new. Eventually, these helmets---just like those other pieces of equipment---will become entrenched and will be treated as if they've always been around.)

The players should definitely protect themselves better and wear these helmets, but I still can't help snickering whenever I look at that picture of David Wright.