John,

Thought of another. Paul Blair, former Orioles centerfielder, who was beaned in the mid-seventies. Read former umpire Ron Luciano's autobiography (Luciano was working homeplate at the time) for an account how he and Blair were affected by the incident. Interestingly, Billy Martin was managing the Yankees around that time. The Yankees picked Blair up as a utility outfielder. Martin spent a lot of time working with Blair and he was able to contribute to the Yankees 1977-78 world championship teams. However, in Ron Luciano's autobiography, the Umpire Strikes Back, Luciano recalls ejecting Martin from a game (when he was managing the Texas Rangers) for ordering his pitcher to throw at rookie (now Hall of Fame) shortstop Robin Yount of the Milwaukee Brewers just because Yount was hitting well.

You might also want to check out Jim Bouton's book, Ball Four, for a discussion he had with several teamates about whether they should throw at Reggie Jackson in 1969. Jackson, like Yount, had committed no sin other than hitting well. Bouton, to his credit, denounced the practice of beaning hot hitters.

Roger Clemens’ decision to bean Mike Piazza in 2000 was undoubtedly due to Piazza hitting well against Clemens and other Yankee pitchers. Although I am a fan of both the Yankees and Roger Clemens, I have never been able to forgive him for that. Clemens, to his credit, has expressed regret over the incident and has made overtures of reconciliation to Piazza.

Speaking of safety equipment, in 1981, Goose Gossage of the Yankees beaned Ron Cey of the LA Dodgers in game 5 of the World Series. At the time, Ron Cey was wearing a helmet with an ear flap, even though ear flaps were not required at the time. Since Gossage threw upwards of 95 miles per hour, and the ball would otherwise have hit Cey in the ear, the flap probably prevented a disaster comparable with the Carl Mays/Ray Chapman beaning.

Also, consider this. When George Brett chased a .400 batting average in 1980 Detriot Tiger pitchers threw at his head on two consecutive pitches after he hit a homerun. Brett was subsequently ejected after charging the mound, the pitcher was not. That same year, in the World Series, Phillies pitchers threw at Brett's head in game 5 after the Royals had come back from being down 2 games to none. Subsequently, his hitting tailed off for the rest of the series.

With all this history, you would think baseball journalists would unanimously condemn the practice. But, in the all-American spirit of multiple viewpoints, any roundtable discussion about "beanballs" will have at least one journalist who defends the pitcher's right to "brush the batter back" or "protect the inside part of homeplate".

Question: Where else in America can a grown man throw a hard object at another man's head, at speeds exceeding 95 miles per hour, and then be defended by otherwise respectable journalists on the grounds he is "protecting his part of the [home] plate"?

By the way, Ed Farmer's numbers also fell off after the Cowens injury.

Regards,
Larry