Kids see professional athletes wear something, and it often becomes a hot item that all the young athletes want to wear. Things like Air Jordan shoes and Phiten titanium necklaces sell well once the pros on television start sporting them.
It doesn't always have to be about fashion, as Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Alex Cobb is hoping to prove.
The 26-year-old recently announced he will be endorsing the isoBLOX padded insert for kids' baseball caps, an addition that he hopes can catch on with young players and lessen the chance of a catastrophic brain injury caused by a line drive striking a player's head while he's in the field.
The isoBLOX Skull Cap.
Photo courtesy of Team Vizion
"When I was a little kid I was looking at what big-leaguers had and what they were endorsing. I was more drawn to that product than not. Now that I'm at this level it's hard to believe I have an impact on what people think," Cobb told MaxPreps Tuesday. "Understanding the effect I have on kids and other people, I feel like it's my responsibility to deliver something I truly believe in."
Cobb has firsthand experience with what a line drive can do when it strikes a player's head. During a June 15 game last season at home against the Kansas City Royals, Eric Hosmer's liner came right back at Cobb and struck him near the right ear, leaving him with a mild concussion and sidelining him for around two months. He was lucky, as other pitchers at a variety of levels have faced massive surgeries and long-term issues.
Going through that experience humbled Cobb and it has played a big role in him wanting to help come up with something that can enhance player safety.
"I was always a little naïve to the fact I would be OK, that I would be quick enough, athletic enough or in a good position to protect myself, to stay out of the way. But obviously I was wrong," said Cobb, a 2006 graduate of
Vero Beach (Fla.). "Since that day I've had plenty of comebackers and close calls – an abnormal amount I would say."
While padded caps have seen a mixed reaction from professional pitchers, Cobb said he is hoping that by getting young players accustomed to the inserts, they can become the norm. Getting pros to change their equipment is very difficult, he said, because of established habits. Players are simply reluctant to change. But kids can make the adjustment easier - and that's the major reason he has put his name behind the isoBLOX product.
He's hoping that youngsters and high school players will try it out and notice that it doesn't change performance.
"The youth product, you don’t notice nearly as much. It’s not cumbersome, it doesn't affect how you feel and I can vouch for that. This product does not hinder kids at that age who aren’t the biggest creatures of habit, so it won't affect them," he said.
The high school game has seen changes in how pitchers are protected, with one of the major alterations coming in the form of making metal bats less powerful. But there can always be more done, especially in the current era where sanctioning organizations are taking major steps to ameliorate concussion rates.
"The fact we have the ability to go out and have the option to wear something is a huge step in this whole movement to get pitchers protected," Cobb said. "Hopefully with me on board and 60 other payers who have ordered custom fit hats we can get feedback and make it very practical."
