Baseball Helmet — Handmade Metal Decorative Display Piece

A batting helmet rendered in handcrafted metal — a display object rather than protective equipment.

Details

• Handcrafted metal construction
• Hand-applied finish with shell and ear-flap detail
• Decorative display piece — not protective equipment
• Suits a study, games room, office, bar or sports room

The object

Batting helmets took an oddly long time to arrive. Players resisted them for decades as unmanly, and it was not until 1971 that Major League Baseball required them for new players — with existing players grandfathered in, which is why a handful continued playing bare-headed into the late 1970s.

The single ear flap became mandatory for new players in 1983. A pitched ball arrives at around 95 mph and takes under four tenths of a second to reach the plate, which is roughly the limit of human reaction time.