Major League Baseball Institutes Seven-Day Disabled List for Concussions
Major League Baseball will implement a new policy regarding concussions on Opening Day, with a plan that includes mandatory testing requirements and a seven-day disabled list for players with head injuries.
Commissioner Bud Selig said the new protocols, announced by MLB and its players union, are a “major step forward” in improving player safety. The National Football League and National Hockey League also recently enhanced their guidelines regarding concussions.
“Player safety is a major concern,” union Executive Director Michael Weiner said in a statement. “These new protocols and procedures should enhance our ongoing efforts to protect the health of players and umpires.”
The policy will govern how concussions are diagnosed and the determination on when players or umpires can return to the field. Each team will be required to designate a brain injury specialist in its home city to evaluate players or umpires when necessary.
Teams also will have to follow protocols for evaluating players for a possible concussion after high-risk incidents, such as being hit in the head by a pitched, batted or thrown ball, or colliding with another player or fixed object.
Baseball will establish a seven-day disabled list aimed at allowing concussions to clear and giving teams a full complement of players after a head injury. Any player on the seven-day disabled list for more than 14 days will automatically and retroactively be transferred to the standard 15-day disabled list.
The new policy will be in effect from March 31, when the Major League Baseball season opens with six games.
“This policy, which reflects the collective expertise of many of the foremost authorities in the field, will benefit players, umpires and clubs alike,” Selig said. “I am proud of the spirit of cooperation that has led us to this result.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Matuszewski in New York at matuszewski@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net
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