John Olerud and His Helmet

The blog title “You Need a Helmet” ties to the axiom that life is tough and the fact that we all need protection from time to time. I’ve wondered recently why it seems that folks aren’t as hardy as they used to be.  This is probably not the time to harangue about prima donna MLB pitchers who make millions yet go on the DL at the hint of a hangnail, but that’s the type of thing I notice.  I was shocked backalong by the sight of a rodeo cowboy wearing a helmet.  It seemed so very wrong somehow. If a bronco buster can’t be tough, who can be? I may have grumbled to the TV screen, “Man up, Dude. Get your cowboy hat!” forgetting momentarily that those, too, are often disguised helmets.

So where are we going with this? First baseman John Olerud wore his batting helmet while playing the infield. I had never seen anyone else do that and it made me curious. If you don’t know much about Olerud, you can read all about his MLB career at http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/olerujo01.shtml  but you do need to consider he played 17 seasons in the majors, winning three Gold Glove Awards as well as two back to back World Series with the Toronto Blue Jays.  Suffice it to say, he was an outstanding ball player.

If you’re a Red Sox fan like me you should remember Johnny O. because he played for the Jays for many years, for the Yankees for one year and for us in 2005, his final year.  We saw him bat many times and watched him play first base without removing his batting helmet. Why didn’t the guy take off that helmet? According to Wikipedia it was done as a precaution since he’d suffered a brain aneurysm while playing college ball. That entry is not supported by a footnote but there’s no reason to suspect it isn’t true. (Note to self - possible blog topic - You Need a Helmet when relying on Wikipedia as your main reference)

At any rate, I’m still curious and my questions abound. Did the other players tease him? If they razzed him, how much did that bother him? How hard did they hit him on his head when he headed to the dugout after scoring a run or two?  We can only speculate.

As I head off for what promises to be a long and difficult day at work, I find myself wishing I had a batting helmet. But if I had one, would I wear it? Would you?