e saved his mother from drowning, somehow made it to Mexico and ultimately arrived in Tampa.In an interview with Dan Le Batard, Fernández laughed about how he couldnt operate the touchless faucets in

The most horrifying sight in baseball is to see a batter get hit in the head with a pitch or a pitcher get struck in the head by a line drive. Earlier this week at Tropicana Field, Blue Jays lefty J.A Happ could have had his career, if not his life, ended by a line shot up the middle by the Rays Desmond Jennings that struck him in the skull near his left ear. Happ was fortunate to escape with a small fracture behind his left ear, a lacerated ear, and an injury to his right knee, from the awkward way he fell when nailed by the ball. Happ is estimated to be out anywhere from 3-6 weeks. Even close calls like this can be career-altering. Reliever Rob Dibble, one of the Nasty Boys World Series-winning bullpen of the Cincinnati Reds in 1990, remembered facing Hall of Famer Eddie Murray, then with Cleveland, in a game a few years later. Murray hit a screaming liner up the middle and by some miracle, Dibble got his glove up and caught the ball at the last second. Dibble said that incident changed him. He claimed to never fully trust his stuff again after that and was never quite the same pitcher, ultimately out of the game a couple of years later. The most frightening and gruesome incident I ever saw occurred on September 8th, 2000. Ryan Thompson of the Yankees hit one back through the box and it struck Red Sox reliever Bryce Florie square in the face. He simply had no time to react. Sport Science estimated the ball was travelling at 120 miles per hour and hit Florie with a force of 5,500 pounds. Florie suffered several facial fractures and partial vision loss in his right eye. There was blood everywhere. Believe it or not, Florie actually briefly made it back to the Majors the following year, but quickly left the game as a player thereafter. Baseball took a long time to develop protection for batters and even the coaches manning the bases. Ray Chapman, the star shortstop of the 1920 Cleveland Indians, is still the only Major League player to die from an on-field incident. He was struck on the side of the head by a pitcher from the Yankees sidearm hurler Carl Mays on August 16th, 1920 and died 12 hours later in hospital. Though various players experimented with head protection over the years, the first true well-marketed batting helmet wasnt produced until 1952. Oddly enough, the man responsible was the same man who brought Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Branch Rickey was the general manager of Pittsburgh Pirates in 1952 and commissioned one of his front office team, Charlie Muse to come up with something that would offer protection to the players when they stepped up to the plate. Muse obliged and Rickeys own outfit, the American Cap Company, would market these helmets. But it wasnt until 1971 that helmets became mandatory and even then, there was a grandfathering rule that gave veteran players the right to choose whether to wear them or not for the remainder of their careers. The last player not to wear a helmet was former Red Sox catcher and later broadcaster Bob Montgomery, who played until 1979. Montgomery also spent some time in Toronto catching for the old Maple Leafs of the International League, then a Boston affiliate. Even the helmet with at least one earflap wasnt made manditory until 1983. The point is baseball moves slowly. Efforts are being made to develop some sort of padding that could at least be fitted into a pitchers cap to protect the skull to a degree. But I doubt well ever see the day a pitcher wears the type of helmet a batter does. Pitchers maintain it would be too cumbersome, too uncomfortable and would affect their performance. I can guarantee well never see the day when a pitcher wears a full facial shield or mask but a cap insert is an important and necessary step to give pitchers some semblence of protection and a chance to at least escape more serious injury in baseballs most frightening and dangerous plays. Numbers Game Last season , the Baltimore Orioles made their season with their record in one run games (29-9) and extra inning contests (16-2). Already this season, the Blue Jays are 4-8 in one run games and 1-3 in extras, not to mention 6-14 against their own division, including 3-10 against the the Yankees and Red Sox. That does not bode well, especially with the starting rotation ravaged by injuries. Air Force 1 Alte 07 . LOUIS -- St. Sf Air Force 1 Mid Desert Ochre . The news was first reported on Gonzalezs Twitter account and confirmed by the Rockies. Gonzalez has a six-week window before position players have their first workout at spring training in Arizona. http://www.airforce1outletitalia.it/ .2 billion agreement with Rogers Communications for the leagues broadcast and multimedia rights. Air Force 1 Alte Victorious Minotaur . -- Jacksonville wide receiver Cecil Shorts will likely be a game-time decision whether hell play Sunday in the Jaguars home game against the San Diego Chargers. Air Force 1 Scontate . -- Brandon Jennings made the most of his first game with the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. They called it José Day every time he took the mound at Marlins Park, every time he graced that place with his ability and exuberance.Outside the ballpark on Monday, near one of the support columns from the stadiums retractable roof, a shrine swelled, filling with posters, jerseys, candles and tears from a fan base that was still getting to know its young superstar. In the stands later that night, after an emotional game that was numbingly played, they chanted:Jooosé, José, José, José!José Fernándezs death still doesnt feel real, even more than 48 hours later. He seemed too full of life, too unaffected by the troubles that plague the rest of us, to leave this world so suddenly. His loss -- in a boating accident off Miami Beach just after 3 a.m. ET on Sunday morning -- is one from which Major League Baseball will take a while to recover.But for Miami, its personal.To Miami, José Fernández wasnt just talented, wasnt just young, wasnt just magnetic. He was theirs. A city with a large Cuban-American population identified with Fernandez in a way few regions ever connect with millionaire athletes. His story was their story. He symbolized their struggle and emerged as a beacon for what it could become.Four years after the franchise was born in 1993, Miami had come to embrace the Marlins by 1997. It was because they were winning, sure. But it was also because at the center of it all was a young Cuban named Liván Hernández, with an electric fastball, a knee-buckling curve and a familiar story. He led that team to an improbable World Series championship against the Cleveland Indians and proudly proclaimed, I love you, Miami! Then the good feelings were taken away.Then-owner Wayne Huizenga dismantled that team, turning it into a 54-108 laughingstock the very next season. Jeffrey Loria came later and quickly became one of the most distrusted figures in the city. He took apart another championship team from 2003, cried poor to get the taxpayers to fund a new stadium, promised to invest in the roster when the deal was approved, then backloaded the contracts and sold off the expensive players four mmonths into it all.ddddddddddddThe people of Miami truly love baseball, but their distrust in ownership is very real. They had been let down too many times to fully commit again.But José Fernández transcended all that, because his journey hit home to so many.My parents spent three days stranded on a beach when they tried to defect from Cuba, with hardly any food or any water. This was 1980, part of the infamous Mariel boatlift. My brother was 4. They risked their lives, left everything they ever knew behind, came to Miami with nothing but the clothes on their backs, and methodically built a life so that their children wouldnt grow up so restricted and so impoverished.I saw my parents in José Fernández.He was jailed as a teenager because his first three attempts at escape did not work. On his fourth, he saved his mother from drowning, somehow made it to Mexico and ultimately arrived in Tampa.In an interview with Dan Le Batard, Fernández laughed about how he couldnt operate the touchless faucets in the bathroom. He told stories about being confused by the concept of free refills and all-you-can-eat buffets. And he spoke solemnly about how afraid he was when he first arrived in this country, because he didnt speak English and didnt know what everyone was laughing about all the time.There is an entire population in Miami that connects with all that.Its why the city still mourns right after it was just starting to fall in love with baseball again. The home attendance when Fernández pitched (26,938) was 27.6 percent greater than when he didnt (21,113). In his major league career -- from 2013 to 16, all with the Marlins -- he was an absurd 29-2 with a 1.49 ERA at home, striking out 346 batters in 272 1/3 innings.He was Liván Hernández, only better, more engaging and bilingual. Giancarlo Stanton has the power and the fame and the contract, but José Fernández was the man this city -- this ownership group -- had been longing for.And he was only just getting started. ' ' '