What Ever Happened To Glenallen Hill?

Most Jays fans remember OF Glenallen Hill for hitting moonshots in BP and the odd time on the field as well as hitting the DL for having a nightmare about spiders. Well he is in the news today again, and for good reason.

The issue of coaches wearing helmets has been a hot topic in baseball since Coolbaugh was struck and killed by a line drive Sunday night at North Little Rock, Ark., while coaching first base for the Tulsa Drillers, the Rockies’ Double-A affiliate.

Coaching the bases for the first time this season after spending three years as a minor league hitting instructor and Class-A manager following his 13-year major league career, Hill was struck in his left elbow by a foul ball during spring training.

“I’ll never forget it,” Hill said. “There was nothing I could have done.”

Still, it wasn’t until Coolbaugh’s death that he decided to don a helmet.

“I had thought about it but didn’t want to put it into play,” Hill said. “Then, I heard about Mike and it brought a lot of emotions, for his family, his children, safety, how many close calls I’ve had. It just makes sense.”

Hill said he always appreciates it when batters reach first base and hand over their body armor: “I strap the stuff on.”

He said there’s been countless times that he’s been coaching first and hears the smack of the bat on the ball and never sees it. “The first baseman will ask, did you see that ball? I didn’t,” Hill said.

“It’s pretty dangerous,” Hill said. “And it’s not a good feeling.”

And Hill said major league baseball should extend the netting that protects fans behind the plate down the foul lines, although “then fans will complain that they won’t be able to get the foul balls and lean over the fence. But there’s a reason there’s a glass cage in hockey, there is.”

Still, several base coaches, including Brian Butterfiled of the Toronto Blue Jays, are opposed to wearing helmets, which don’t protect much of the head anyway.
I say kudos to Glenallen for being the first in hopefully a long line of coaches to protect themselves from screaming liners.