Adorable San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey was absolutely ENDED by Scott Cousins during a play at the plate last night, and the news keeps getting worse. Posey has a broken leg and torn ligaments, and it looks like his season is over. Hopefully that’s all that he’ll miss, because hits like this are usually followed by Faces of Death transitional graphics.
If you watch the video it was a clean play at the plate, Posey just got hit so hard he nearly traveled back in time. He missed the ball and turned into it face first. Posey’s agent is using the 13-year old star’s injury as a call to arms against Major League Baseball.
“You leave players way too vulnerable,” Berry said. “I can tell you Major League Baseball is less than it was before [Posey's injury]. It’s stupid. I don’t know if this ends up leading to a rule change, but it should. The guy [at the plate] is too exposed.
“If you go helmet to helmet in the NFL, it’s a $100,000 fine, but in baseball, you have a situation in which runners are [slamming into] fielders. It’s brutal. It’s borderline shocking. It just stinks for baseball. I’m going to call Major League Baseball and put this on the radar. Because it’s just wrong.”
Maybe next year catchers will sit in a dunk tank at home plate, and runners will only be safe if they can slide directly into the target. I know I run the risk of sounding like a “traditionalist” (whatever that is), but I think nonstop rule changes aren’t the problem with baseball. I think “put Buster Posey in a suit of armor, sue everybody, change everything” is a pretty misguided attempt at baseball justice, and that “holy sh** Buster Posey got wrecked, let’s make sure he’s okay again at some point during the rest of his life” is the more constructive approach.
![[avatar]](http://p.uproxxcdn.com/photo/1245/thumb)
![[image]](http://cdn.wl.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/Johnny-Manziel-with-Davey-Johnson-180x180.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.wl.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/bluth-frozen-banana-stand-yankee-stadium-180x180.png)
![[image]](http://cdn.wl.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/jeon-jun-woo-willie-mays-hayes-180x180.png)
![[image]](http://cdn.wl.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/Wrestling-Fan-180x180.jpg)
Fielder in the basepath = his fault if he’s wrecked.
Though the runner wasn’t sliding as much as he was trying to imitate Ray Lewis.
That said, if he went feet-first in a “slide,” then the catcher would’ve just gotten a neck full of cleats.
(*stops chasing ambulance, drives to Brandon’s house, screeches to halt in his yard*)
What’s this about suing everybody?
Just make it legal for catcher to wear spiky shoulderpads like that Mad Max dude/Raiders fan, then see if anyone wants to barrel into him.
Posey’s agent is using the 13-year old star’s injury as a call to arms against Major League Baseball.
Maybe Posey’s agent should be more worried about MLB’s policy of letting 13-year-olds into the league.
Posey’s agent is more concerned about the money he’s going to be losing than about the safety of any MLB players. The hit wasn’t even helmet-to-helmet, it was perfectly clean; it was Posey’s positioning that contributed to the severity of the injury. Even if Cousins had slid feet-first, he could just as easily broken Posey’s leg because of Posey’s stance. It is a risk that every catcher takes when he tries to field the ball and block the runner at the same time. Posey just got the chamber with the bullet in it, that’s all.
“Oh, NOW people are concerned about collisions at home plate!” — Ray Fosse
I was at this game with Ufford and Brendan from the Frotcast. That guy might have been pissed at us for so ruthlessly heckling their bullpen. I think my favorite was Brendan yelling, “HEY WEBB, WHAT’S THE EXTRA ‘B’ FOR? BAD AT PITCHING?”
At the risk of sounding like a complete pussy, the rule needs to change. They aren’t decked out in shoulder pads or an nfl style helmet. The gear they wear is to protect them against a 5 and a quarter ounce piece of leather that on occasion hits 100mph. Having a catcher try to field a throw from the outfield, protect the plate, AND brace for a hit from a 220lb gorilla running at full speed is a lot to ask.
If they make an MLB Monopoly game, that image is totally the “Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200″ card.
@ Duto – You’re absolutely right. About sounding like a pussy, not the rule change. The way he was set up on the plate he was asking for destroyed knee. That should be a demonstration to catchers about how NOT to guard the plate.
Baseball needs to make a change. The object of the game is to score more runs than the other team.
In this play, the intent is not to score a run, but to create a collision with the catcher. The runners path was not to the plate, but at the catcher.
At any lower level, this an out and an ejection. I feel it is time to make the rule at the highest level.
@Tbone – The intent here is to score a run by making the catcher drop the ball. He didn’t run down from second base just to cause some violence.
I get a thrill from collisions at the plate. If you ask me how much I’d pay to see them kept in the game, I’d name a number. If you asked me how much I’d pay to see Buster Posey still a part of this season, I’d name a higher number. That is to say, I value players playing more than I value them smashing into each other. We have other sports for that. I’m not afraid to sound like a total pussy: The collisions should go.
@Folby – The problem here isn’t the value of players over collisions as much as nobody caring until precious Buster Posey got run over. Nobody cared at any point during the previous 100+ years of people getting run over. Ask Ray Fosse. If Cousins had run through Ronny Paulino nobody would’ve given a rip.