Posey injury stirs debate about plate collisions
SAN FRANCISCO — Ray Fosse watched the crushing blow to Giants star Buster Posey and wondered why after all these years there are still few rules to protect catchers at the plate.
If there’s anybody who knows about collisions, it’s Fosse.
He was at the center of one of the most iconic hits in baseball history, when Pete Rose barreled over him to score the winning run in the 1970 All-Star game. Fosse’s right shoulder was permanently rearranged, and while he briefly rebounded from the injury, it started a downward slide to a career that was ultimately cut short.
“After Rose hit me in ‘70, I had two guys that blind-sided me, guys who hit me standing up,” said Fosse, who stopped short of asking baseball to rewrite the rule book. “There’s never anybody ejected for that.”
The clean but cringe-inducing crash between Posey and Florida’s Scott Cousins this week has still reignited the decades-old debate over plays at the plate.
Posey, the 2010 NL Rookie of the Year and one of the game’s brightest young stars, fractured a bone in his lower left leg and tore three ligaments in his ankle. His season is likely over.
In the past few years, the NFL has cracked down on violent hits and increased fines with an eye on player safety. The league also announced this week a policy of “club accountability” for teams whose players repeatedly are fined for flagrant hits.
Some in baseball are asking for similar action in the wake of Posey’s injury. Others argue home plate collisions are as much a part of baseball tradition as peanuts and Cracker Jacks and the seventh-inning stretch.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy, a former catcher who had multiple head injuries in his playing days, called on Major League Baseball to explore ideas to protect players.
“I think we do need to consider changing the rules here a little bit because the catcher is so vulnerable and there’s so many who have gotten hurt,” Bochy said. “And not just a little bit, had their careers ended or shortened.”
Even with advances in technology and improved gear, collisions at the plate still cause lasting injuries.
Angels catcher Bobby Wilson had a severe concussion and injured his left leg in a collision with Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira last year. It was Wilson’s first big league start behind the plate.
“The next thing I remembered was sitting in a wheelchair,” said Wilson, who missed 21 games while on the disabled list.
His manager, Mike Scioscia, caught more games than any player in Dodgers history and endured numerous collisions, including a couple of memorable ones with Jack Clark and Chili Davis. He believes there’s an unwritten code of ethics among players, depending on how much of the plate the catcher gives and the situation in the game.
“It’s just like breaking up a double play and what the guidelines are,” Scioscia said. “Running into a catcher, the catcher’s going to stay there and try to block the plate, which you have the right to if you’re fielding the ball. And the runner obviously has a right to dislodge it.”
Those lines can often be murky.
Cousins, for instance, scored the winning run in a crucial game against the defending World Series champions Wednesday night. He might have had room to slide and avoid hitting Posey, but that’s a split-second decision and almost impossible to discern in the moment.
The brunt of the blow doesn’t always fall on the catcher either.
After all, the runner is the one not wearing protective gear. And sliding instead of colliding offers no guarantees — Texas slugger Josh Hamilton, last season’s AL MVP, broke his right arm April 12 on a headfirst slide into home at Detroit.
“What do you want them to do? Make guys wear tennis shoes? It’s a Major League Baseball game,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “Nobody wants to see anybody get hurt, but you got to play the game.”
