Buster Posey is a catcher for the San Francisco Giants and in 2010 he won the National League Rookie of the Year. He was the 5th overall pick in the 2008 MLB Draft. Then, on May 25th Buster broke his fibula on a game deciding play in the 12th inning against the Florida Marlins. A brutal hit from the Marlins' Scott Cousins possibly ended his season.
This play and injury has caused an uproar about the safety of catchers. Should they block the plate? Should players be allowed to run over the catcher? Well, if you ask a lot of sports writers, this heinous act should be outlawed and the offender should be thrown in jail. How dare a catcher try to ensure victory for his team by protecting home plate? And what is a base runner thinking when he hustles to the plate? Is winning that important? Yes.
Look, it was a game in May, maybe not the most important game of the year. But anytime you step on the field, you risk injury. Maybe Scott Cousins didn't need to run over Buster, but what if he didn't hustle to first? Everyone would call him lazy and demand he goes hard all the time. Competitiveness isn't a switch. These guys work so hard to get where they are. We can't praise Michael Jordan for being a hyper-competitive doucher and complain when other people do it. We can't buy Pete Rose pictures of him crushing Ray Fosse in an All-Star game and act so appalled when a no name guy does it to a future All-Star.
I'm not saying that player safety doesn't matter. What I am saying is that a knee jerk reaction isn't the way to go. Let players play. Let the compete. And if the Giants want, let them bean Scott Cousins right in the back... twice.
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