Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals did what good catchers do. He didn’t budge. He stood his ground. The runner, haplessly out of options, had one path to the run, and it went through Molina. Crash.
At the end of the violence, both men were on the ground. The runner looked, the catcher showed and the umpire called an out.
So it went with the Phillies vs. Cardinals last night. The catcher, Yadier Molina, and the runner, Eric Bruntlett, played the game of football on a baseball field. Molina did the unthinkable by holding onto the ball after getting nailed. Knobberslocked. Wake up next weekend hit.
Out came the stretcher and back board. On went the neck collar. Silet went the crowd. Was Molina critically injured? Was there a medical emergency? Nope, just a precaution. Later in the night Molina was diagnosed with a mild concussion.
You don’t normally see concussions in baseball, but you do see them in football. A concussion is actually termed,. mild traumatic brain injury. You can understand why it’s called a concussion now, right? It’s much easier to think about.
Concussions occur when there is a damage to the head occurs affecting the brain. You can get it from something as simple as a fall to something as powerful as a baseball player slamming into you at full speed. This is what happened with Yadier.
Getting hit at full speed can cause 1600 pounds of pressure per square inch. When you focus that on the body the head is invariably shaken, which results in the concussion.
Concussions are trending upwards in sports, especially football. You can minimize concussions by doing the following things:
The Heads-Up on Sport Concussion
Always wear the proper equipment. Equipment is designed to maximize protection, so you need to ensure it’s always worn. Some players think it’s ok to leave certain equipment off or not fastened, but that leads to an increase in concussions.
Proper form. There are ways to play sports to minimize the effect and incidence of concussions. Proper tackle techniques, proper running techniques can both help.
Don’t play. This is the only safe way to minimize your exposure to concussions.
There is nothing Yadier could have done, short of not playing, to limit his concussion.