Batting Helmets

Although players had been experimenting with protective head gear since the early 1900s, it wasn't until 1953 that the idea really caught on. Pirates owner Branch Rickey required that both batters and pitchers wear helmets. Baseball cards from the mid-1950s show nearly every Pirates pitcher wearing a helmet like the one pictured at the left, which was made by ABC, a company Rickey founded in 1952. At the right is a late 1960s game-used White Sox helmet, also made by ABC.

In the 1960s, several companies, including Bobbie, began producing souvenir plastic helmets for fans, which were sold at stadiums or given away at "helmet days. This display of souvenir helmets includes 1960s Bobbie helmets of the Pirates, Phillies, Mets, Tigers, Orioles and Yankees, a c. 1970 Rochester Red Wings helmet by an unknown maker, and 1970s Laich helmets of the A's, White Sox and Orioles.