Tony C
When I was 10 years old, I learned of then 24 year old Tony Conigliaro of the Boston Red Sox, who had been a Boston area Catholic high school phenomenon.
During the Red Sox's 1967 penant winning season, Tony was hit in the face by a pitched baseball and was out of baseball until 1969. Teammate Rico Petrocelli has speculated that Tony never saw the baseball coming:
“I always believed there was a spot where Tony couldn’t see the inside pitch. If you threw it to the right spot, he’d hit that ball nine miles. But then there was this blind spot, a little more inside. Sometimes he moved too late to get out of the way, and sometimes he never moved at all” (Petrocelli & Scoggins, 2017, Tales from the 1967 Red Sox Dugout).
When Tony retired in the 1971 season, we learned that his vision was limited and that he was subject to excruciating headaches.
In 1982, Tony incurred a heart attack and stroke with resultant brain damage. He passed away in 1990.
Was Tony's shortened life somehow connected to his devastating 1967 injuries?
Did Tony have an undiagnosed visual problem that made him incredibly vulnerable in 1967?
Why do we think baseball is safe for children, teens, and adults?
Dr Bennet Omalu
Dr Bennet Omalu is the forensic pathologist portrayed by Will Smith in Concussion (Note; Smith was absolutely correct that the film was Academy Award winning caliber.). Omalu provided a devastating critique of the danger of head injuries in sport:
"A helmet keeps someone from lacerating their scalp, breaking their skull open, or suffering some type of bleeding inside the skull. It does not cushion the brain as it impacts the skull in a headfirst collision of bodies. Nothing can protect the brain in such an impact" (p. 144). (cf, 9/3/18 Amazon review of Truth Doesn't Have a Side: My Alarming Discovery about the Danger of Contact Sports).
Omalu reminds us that every human is made in God's image, meriting a respect for the body going beyond physical life:
"Behind the tenaciousness energizing Dr Omalu to withstand the resultant calumnies arising from whistle blowing on the enormously powerful football industry is Dr Omalu's deep belief in the dignity of each human being. In this autobiography, Dr Omalu frequently reminds us that each and every human being is made in the image of God" (9/3/18 Amazon review).
Joe Tevington is a proudly orthodox Catholic, a husband since 1986, a dad to two adult children, a grandpa to two, and a civil service retiree. He is a sign language fluent certified rehabilitation counselor with graduate degrees in deafness rehabilitation, religious studies/moral theology, & Christian counseling psychology, as well as a catechetical diploma and certificates in benefits planning and Catholic social ministry. He deeply appreciates Catholic teaching on the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of the transmission of human life, as well as how they are to inform us in our apostolates and ministries.
On much lighter notes, he fancies himself to be the foremost authority on his native Brooklyn, when it comes to architecture, cinema, geography, history, Italian food, stick ball, stoop ball, or wiffle ball.
