{"id":1593,"date":"2014-02-24T20:19:36","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T02:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/?p=1593"},"modified":"2014-02-24T20:19:36","modified_gmt":"2014-02-25T02:19:36","slug":"mlb-makes-good-on-promise-to-protect-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/?p=1593","title":{"rendered":"MLB Makes Good On Promise to Protect Players"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While many organizations\u2014NCAA, NHL and the NFL\u2014take reactive measures, the MLB has taken steps to ensure it is not caught with its pants down, facing a multi-million-dollar lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>The Players&#8217; Association and MLB <a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/news\/article\/mlb\/mlb-institutes-new-rule-on-home-plate-collisions?ymd=20140224&amp;content_id=68267610&amp;vkey=news_mlb\">announced that they have agreed to enact<\/a> a home-plate-collision rule for the 2014 season. The rule seeks to limit violent collisions at home plate that have caused <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uveVKTMTu0k\">season-ending injuries<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/news\/article.jsp?ymd=20120828&amp;content_id=37490952&amp;vkey=news_mlb&amp;c_id=mlb\">concussions<\/a> and the potential for <a href=\"http:\/\/espn.go.com\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/10142581\/cte-present-ryan-freel-killed-self-report-says\">long-term cognitive impairment<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Mike Matheny, whose <a href=\"http:\/\/sports.espn.go.com\/mlb\/news\/story?id=2751419\">career was cut-short<\/a> due to multiple concussions, <a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/news\/article\/mlb\/cardinals-manager-mike-matheny-supports-new-collision-rule?ymd=20140224&amp;content_id=68288982&amp;vkey=news_mlb\">had this to say about the proposed rule<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I&#8217;m not on a mission here to try to do anything except do what&#8217;s right,&#8221; [ ] &#8220;First of all, make people aware that the concussion thing is real and not just in football and hockey. It&#8217;s real in baseball, and I did a real poor job of communicating that early on. And the other thing is, let&#8217;s take a risk-reward analysis of this thing. What is the risk of the good of the game, let alone the individual, and the long-term repercussions? And what&#8217;s the reward?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know how it&#8217;s all going to play how except for the fact that we think it&#8217;s the right thing. And the right thing is to try to keep our guys on the field.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Although there is no firm scientific data that proves this rule will reduce concussions, common sense clearly dictates that it will.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike the NCAA, which repeatedly makes empty promises about player safety and simultaneously manufactures doubt about enacting hit limits, MLB has chosen not to wait.<\/p>\n<p>MLB recognizes the threat and has taken proactive measures to ensure their players are protected at all levels.<\/p>\n<p>I applaud MLB for placing player safety over profit. Perhaps this will be a wake-up call to the NCAA and NHL. Players are being exposed to needless brain trauma. Stop the excuses and live up to your professed obligations.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While many organizations\u2014NCAA, NHL and the NFL\u2014take reactive measures, the MLB has taken steps to ensure it is not caught with its pants down, facing a multi-million-dollar lawsuit. The Players&#8217; Association and MLB announced that they have agreed to enact a home-plate-collision rule for the 2014 season. The rule seeks to limit violent collisions at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[359,29,16,360,262,362,112,194,327,361],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1593"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1593"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1594,"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1593\/revisions\/1594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}