Happ and Cobb grateful to return; would consider wearing protective head gear

As J.A. Happ and Alex Cobb stood side by side on Sunday afternoon, it was apparent both men are grateful to be standing and talking – let alone pitching again.

“Not too many people know what you’ve gone through on a personal level so to know his battles, although they were different, they were almost more severe and more troublesome in some cases,” said Cobb, a starting pitcher with the Tampa Rays. “It’s really nice to see him back out on a big league field. It’s definitely a bond that most people won have with another person.”

“We are going to be linked together for this possibly forever,” said Happ, a starting pitcher with the Toronto Blue Jays. “The key thing is we were both able to come back and we are ok. It’s something that we will definitely being staying in touch about.”

On May 7, Happ was struck by a Desmond Jennings liner in the side of his head. He suffered a minor skull fracture behind his left year as well as MCL and PCL ligament strains to his right knee. Happ returned to the big leagues three months later and returned to the Tampa mound on Saturday for the first time since the scary incident.

Some six weeks after Happ was hurt, Cobb was struck by an Eric Hosmer line drive in the head of a game June 15^th against Kansas City Royals. Cobb suffered a concussion and returned to the majors on Thursday, two months after his injury.

“We were able to touch- base a couple of weeks ago and it’s good to see things are back to normal,” said Happ, as the two met face to face on Sunday for the first time since their returns to the big leagues.

Happ happened to be watching the game in which Cobb was injured.

“It was just such a surreal thing,” said Happ. “Again, just to see him and be able to catch up and see that the healing has taken place, that’s the biggest thing. Definitely a scare with some of the issues that he had to deal with that I didn’t.

"He had a little bit more to overcome in that sense and really glad to see he was able to do that."

On Sunday the two spoke out in favour of protective head gear for pitchers.

“Whether that pitcher wants to pitch with head gear or not is up to him but I definitely think there should be an option,” said Cobb. “I haven’t heard too much but I do know that it’s moving in the right direction and hopefully there will be an option by next year.”

“You’d be crazy not to look into it if it was available,” said Happ. “I think function is the big issue. We were struck in the ear so like I said it would almost have to be a helmet situation. If it was functional and comfortable and didn’t hinder the performance at all than absolutely.”