Wright's beaning not enough of a wake-up call

To say the New York Mets have been injury-prone this season is like saying Usain Bolt is fast. Words simply don't do the situation justice.

The latest injury to baseball's version of General Hospital was one of the scariest moments in the majors this year. Third baseman David Wright took a 94-mph fastball to the head and had to leave the game with a concussion. The ball hit squarely on the side of Wright's helmet, and he went down like he'd been shot and stayed down for several tense minutes.

The Giants won the game, 5-4, but the postgame buzz was all about Wright's beaning, which pitcher Matt Cain said was unintentional (and everyone seems to agree).

On the heels of a another scary beaning of Reds third baseman Scott Rolen, the players were asked about a newer, safer helmet that equipment manufacturer Rawlings plans to introduce in the coming year. And they were less than ecstatic.

"I could care less what they say -- I'm not wearing it," said Mets' outfielder Jeff Francoeur, the same player who helped a scared and disoriented Wright into the clubhouse after he was beaned.

You see, the new S100 helmet is supposed to protect the head from fastballs up to 100 mph. But it's apparently quite cumbersome and bulky. So without a second thought, players like Francoeur -- who just saw his teammate knocked out by a fastball -- would prefer to keep wearing a helmet that basically is a crap shoot on pitches above 70 mph.

Sounds good, Jeff. We'll just make sure all your at-bats come against Tim Wakefield.

Unfortunately, this is the exception rather than the rule. Players are simply more concerned with their appearance than with safety, primarily because they haven't seen any deadly consequences from wearing the old helmets. The last time a player died after he was beaned was Ray Chapman, who was hit with a Carl Mays fastball in 1920.

That tragedy led to two things. First, it was the death knell for the spitball, the pitch Mays threw. The official spitball was thrown in 1934. It also led to the batting helmet, which before then had never occurred to the players.

Hopefully, it won't take another tragedy for today's players to come to their senses.