Wright ditches oversized helmet at Coors Field
Photo credit: AP | The Mets' David Wright decided to ditch his oversized batting helmet for the final game of the Mets-Rockies series in Colorado.
Photos: Mets vs. Rockies
David Wright beaned
DENVER - DENVER - Mets All-Star third baseman David Wright ditched his new oversized batting helmet for Thursday's game at Coors Field, saying the Rawlings S100 model didn't feel right.
"It's just not comfortable," Wright - who is coming back after suffering a concussion - said of the state-of-the-art helmet. "It's just the last thing I need to be worrying about in the box is trying to shove it on my head."
The S100 can withstand a direct hit from a 100-mph fastball. But as Wright discovered in his first games back from his injury, it could not protect him from the countless jokes and references to "The Flintstones" character The Great Gazoo.
Even when Wright went back to his old headgear, the fans made fun of him. During one of his at-bats Thursday, a fan from behind the backstop yelled, "Where's your special helmet?"
It might not reappear for a while. Wright struggled with the helmet's fit in his first game back from the disabled list Tuesday and took plenty of verbal abuse from both dugouts.
Wright tried a different, two-ear-flap model as a pinch hitter in Wednesday's game, but the helmet still didn't feel right. With his regular helmet Thursday, Wright went 3-for-4 with a sacrifice fly and three RBIs in the Mets' 8-3 victory over the Rockies. "I wanted to go back to the old one. I'll just wait to see if there's going to be any adjustments made," he said.
The S100 helmet is not widely available to major-leaguers yet, but Wright became the most famous test case after suffering a concussion Aug. 15. That day he was struck in the head by a 93-mph fastball from the San Francisco Giants' Matt Cain.
As a result, Rawlings rushed to get a helmet to Wright, one of only two players to try it, along with the Cubs' Ryan Dempster.
No one seemed to notice when Dempster wore the helmet during last Saturday's game against the Mets. But Wright wasn't so lucky. After Tuesday's debut with the helmet, he was ridiculed in his own clubhouse, and one teammate stuck a Great Gazoo cartoon on his locker.
Jeff Francoeur, already one of Wright's closest friends on the Mets, said it was never a good idea in the first place. "I think David was upfront and honest with them about how he felt about it," Francoeur said. "Hopefully, they'll come out with something better. You're already worried about trying to hit 95 [mph fastballs]. Now if you're worried about what to try to do with your head, it just doesn't work."
When asked if Wright will go back to the new model, Francoeur smiled. "After a day of going 3-for-4 with your old helmet,'' he said, "I think he's done with it."
