A solution in search of a problem?
I don’t recall hearing of anyone being seriously injured from an intentional beanball. A little headhunting in baseball never hurt anyone. Keeps the hitters honest.
SnakeDoc
There are many, Don Zimmer is one of them.
Ever hear of Tony Conigliaro?
Ray Chapman died after being beaned.
Several players' careers have been impaired or derailed after being struck with a beanball. Hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane was knocked unconscious for ten days in 1937, and never played another game. In 1941, Dodgers outfielder Pete Reiser was hospitalized for a month, one of numerous injuries which shortened his career. Lou Boudreau played only sporadically after being beaned in 1951, and retired the following season. Tony Conigliaro missed over a year after being hit in the eye, and his vision later deteriorated. Dickie Thon returned from a gruesome beaning in 1984, but never matched his earlier success. On September 28, 1995, Kirby Puckett, the superstar outfielder of the Minnesota Twins, was struck in the cheek by a Dennis Martínez fastball, breaking his jaw and loosening two teeth. It would be his last game; during spring training the following year he developed glaucoma, which ended his career. In 2005, the Cubs' Adam Greenberg was hit in the head with the first, and thus far, the only pitch that he faced in his major league career. Ron Santo, who thought he'd lost an eye when his cheekbone was broken by a pitch in 1966, rushed back to the lineup. He described his attitude: "It was like, 'Here, hit me again.' I didn't have any fear. I just went on. When you get older, maybe fear does set in. Nobody will admit that, but it does happen." Don Zimmer, who was nearly killed by a beanball in 1953 and had four metal buttons surgically implanted in his skull, recounted, "It's not a case of being tougher than anybody else... You never know how you're going to react until you come back and play again."
Kidding? Beanball implies the Bean. The head. Not so harmless.
Does the name Rico Petrocelli ring a bell? Not saying it was intentional but he sure as hell WAS seriously injured.
Scratch that. It wasn’t Rico. It was Tony Conigliaro. Got me Red Sox mixed up.
Headhunting is not a "beanball" and is very dangerous. Beaning someone in the thigh is extremely different then going at their head.
I might half-way agree you have a point if we’re only talking about the National League, where Pitchers are Hitters. But this is about Detroit, an AL team.
Really? It affected David Wright’s career for a few years, and others have pointed out more serious problems. But, with that said, Hamels did NOT throw at his head, so for me, that was the mitigating circumstance in his favor.