John Olerud is a former first baseman who has won a pair of World Series rings, was named to two All-Star teams and won three Gold Glove awards during his 16-year MLB career. He’s comfortable with that information coheadlining the other most notable aspect of his playing time: that he wore a batting helmet while in the field on defense and was, to his knowledge, the only player to have regularly done so.
Diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage at Washington State after he collapsed during a preseason workout in 1989, Olerud was advised to wear the helmet upon his return to play. But even after the doctors said the helmet was no longer necessary, he fell back on a truism we all should learn at some point in life: When it comes to getting hit in the head, less is better.
