Major League Baseball's egregious failure to protect catchers

The NFL has essentially banned injury-making helmet-to-helmet tackles. It's time baseball did the same with violent home-plate collisions

1970 All Star game
(Image credit: AP Photo)

Major League Baseball, more than any other major American pro sports league, prides itself on a rigid adherence to tradition. While that nostalgia is fine when it comes to honoring the game's rich history, it too often results in the league steadfastly resisting commonsense modernization.

A rather infamous example: In recent years, MLB fiercely resisted calls for in-game replays long after they'd been adopted by other pro sports. The NFL began using instant replay in 1986, with the NHL following suit in 1991, and the NBA doing the same a decade later. In 2008, MLB finally instituted replays — but only for disputed home runs. The league has continued to oppose expanded use for fear it would erode some make-believe idealized purity of the game.

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Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.