title: Epidemiology of Injuries in Major League Baseball Catchers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In part because of the perception that many injuries occur during collisions with the catcher at home plate, Major League Baseball (MLB) officials recently implemented rule changes to prevent these injuries. There is little research on the rate, type, and severity of injuries in MLB catchers.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To (1) determine the types and severity of injuries to catchers, (2) determine catchers' athlete exposure (AE) rate of injuries, and (3) assess the perception that catchers are at risk for career-ending injuries caused by home plate collisions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive epidemiology study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The MLB Electronic Baseball Information System was queried for injuries in catchers during the 2001-2010 seasons categorized by cause (collision vs noncollision), diagnosis, and severity. All collision injuries were confirmed by reviewing publicly accessible records and news media. The injury exposure rate per 1000 AEs was calculated, and the rate of injury, associated days on the disabled list (DL), and injury severity were determined on the basis of cause and location of injury. Poisson regression was used to compare rates among seasons, and significance was set at P < .05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the study period, 134 injuries were sustained, resulting in 6801 days lost. The mean time on the DL was 50.8 days (range, 15-236). The average injury rate was 2.75 injuries per 1000 AEs (range, 0.82-5.14). Of those 134 injuries, 20 were collision injuries. Collision injuries resulted in a mean of 39 days (range, 15-93) of DL time, compared with 53 days for noncollision injuries (range, 15-236), which was not a significant difference. No collision injury was career ending. Noncollision injuries more commonly resulted in >100 days on the DL compared with collision injuries (P = .049).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Study findings indicated that (1) the most common type of injury to catchers was noncollision injury, (2) the rate of injuries to catchers is lower than previously reported rates for other player positions, and (3) this study did not support the perception that collision injuries are a frequent cause of career-ending injury to catchers.
authors: William Beaumont Army Medical Center, El Paso, Texas, USA.
authors: Kelly G
authors: KG
authors: Kilcoyne
authors: The Department of Athletics, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA Baltimore Orioles Professional Baseball Organization, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors: Brian G
authors: BG
authors: Ebel
authors: Baltimore Orioles Professional Baseball Organization, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors: Richard L
authors: RL
authors: Bancells
authors: The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors: John H
authors: JH
authors: Wilckens
authors: The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA editorialservices@jhmi.edu.
authors: Edward G
authors: EG
authors: McFarland
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D056352:Athletes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001484:Baseball / Q000293:injuries*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008396:Maryland / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: baseball catcher; collision injury; epidemiology; noncollision injury