Wezen Ball: Searching for the History of the Batting Helmet

Not since Helmut Dantine in Northern Pursuit has there been such an extensive search!

1953

In 1950, Branch Rickey left the Dodgers and became general manager of the Pirates. While GM there, he became involved with the American Baseball Cap, Inc. The company, under direction of Charlie Muse, worked with Cleveland engineers Ed Crick and Ralph Davia to design a useful, light-weight batting helmet. Some reports say that, in 1952, Rickey introduced this cap to baseball, citing names like Ralph Kiner and Phil Rizzuto as early adopters. The earliest evidence I can find of the Pirates wearing, however, is from the May 16, 1953, edition of the Times-News of Hendersonville, NC.

(Interestingly enough, a December 6, 1955, article in the Pittsburgh Press, mentions that though “Kiner owns stock in the plastic helmet factory that services the Pirates ... he never wore one in a game.”)

On May 5, 1953, the Ottawa Citizen mentions that “major league clubs are becoming quite interested in a new type of plastic protective cap which has been put on the market recently.” On July 20, 1953, Brooklyn outfielder Carl Furillo is hit in the head by a pitched ball. The Times-News says that it “struck the top of his protective helmet.”

1954

On August 1, 1954, Milwaukee Braves first-baseman Joe Adcock was beaned in the head by Clem Labine in the fourth inning of a game at Ebbets Field. Adcock had hit four home runs the day before, and was brushed back in the third inning. He was carried off the field on a stretcher, but was not seriously injured. The Chicago Tribune reports that his “metal head protector” that “he wore under his cap” took all the damage; the dent in it was visible. The New York Times, however, describes it as a “plastic helmet”.