The Payoff...32 Years Later

When I was 16, I remember taking batting practice at Spring Valley High School. It was my turn to step into the batters box and I did so sans batting helmet. My JV coach Mr. Sachs yelled to me, "Put on a helmet." I said to him, "It's only batting practice."
Mr. Sachs told me, sternly, to put the helmet on and that since I wear a batting helmet during a game I should wear it during BP as well. It actually made sense so ever since then I've worn a batting helmet when taking BP. Doesn't matter if it's at the batting cage or if some guy is throwing meatballs up to the plate for BP, I wear my batting helmet.
Of course, wearing a batting helmet when a pitcher is throwing BP at 53 miles per hour can lend itself to ridicule. Even worse is if its a really hot day and you wear a helmet with a guy just lobbing in BP pitches. Still, I've always worn my helmet any time I've hit, or attempted to hit. It's not the cool thing to do but I can take the ribbing.
This past Saturday, my old guy's baseball team had our first outdoor practice. We've been hitting at the indoor cages the previous several weeks, and yes, I've been the only guy to wear a helmet at those sessions. It was nice to finally get outside.
I was the last guy to hit and I noticed two things. It looks like I'm the only left-handed batter on the team. Plus, I was the only guy who wore a batting helmet.
When taking BP on this windy, sun-splashed Saturday, I did something I've never done before in my life. Ever. I've taken thousands of cuts at baseballs in my lifetime and for the very first time I fouled a ball off...my head. I've seen guys bunt balls off their faces, which is actually pretty funny despite the pain and blood usually associated with that. I've never bunted a ball off my face thankfully, but it can, and does happen from time to time. Hilarity will ensue. But have you ever seen a guy foul a ball straight off his head?
So I took a vicious cut off our BP throwing player/manager Steve Brouwer. The pitch was up in the zone and normally that ball would be a rocket into right-centerfield. This time though, I fouled it directly off the brim and front of my helmet. It hit with such force that it knocked the helmet off my head and for about two to three seconds I saw nothing but black. It made a pretty loud noise too. I was stunned for a couple of seconds. I reached down and picked up the helmet, looked it over and put it back on my head. Steve was laughing behind the pitcher's screen. When I stepped back into the box I had a flashback to when I was ordered to "put on a helmet."
So Coach Sachs' sage advice, 32 years earlier, finally paid off for me this past Saturday. Had I not been wearing my trusty helmet, which I've had since 1981, I would have been drilled right off the upper part of my forehead, dead center. It certainly would have opened up a gash and today I'd be walking around with stitches in my head, looking like Frankenstein.
Thanks Mr. Sachs. The best baseball coach, by the way, I've ever had.