Rozner: MLB players no longer protect themselves

What is a hit to the head and what is incidental contact when a player is traveling at full speed and his opponent alters his body position at the last instant?

There's not an NFL or NHL player who truly knows the answer.

The leagues are always trying to make the games safer, which is understandable when teams have so much money invested in their players.

But there are always unintended consequences, and in trying to protect them, the players are lulled into a false sense of security, believing they are safe and no longer need to protect themselves.

For nearly 100 years, hockey players were taught to never turn their back to an opposing player about to hit them, but now with a rule prohibiting hits from behind, players routinely turn their back with their face to the glass, assuming no one would ever deliver that hit.

And it's a very dangerous move.

The rule states that, "A check from behind is a check delivered on a player who is not aware of the impending hit, therefore unable to protect or defend himself, and contact is made on the back part of the body."

So what about the player who puts himself in a bad position to try to draw a penalty?

"When a player intentionally turns his body to create contact with his back," the rule states, "no penalty shall be assessed."

Sometimes this occurs so late in a play with a skater busting down the ice, that it's too late to avoid contact.

Then, it's up to the referee to guess. That's all it is. It's a guess.

Same thing happens in football.

The problem is players were previously taught to protect themselves and now believing they're safe, some of these rules have made the games more dangerous.

And you're seeing it in baseball as well.

MLB is trying to take all contact out of the game. They don't want any player touching another around the bag at second or on plays at the plate.

The result is players are not looking out for themselves because they believe the umpires are doing it for them, but it only takes one malicious slide to ruin a season.

On Anthony Rizzo's now infamous slide at home Monday night in Pittsburgh, catcher Elias Diaz did nothing to protect himself, and he's hardly alone in making that mistake.

Was the slide illegal by the letter of today's law? Absolutely. It's laughable to hear the Cubs, Joe Maddon or anyone else pretend it was legal.

Seriously, not even close.

Dirty? Depends on which is your favorite team. The Pirates thought so. Maddon did not.

But if that had happened to Willson Contreras, the thought of losing his catcher for the season with a knee injury would have caused Maddon to bellow from his frequently-used pulpit that the Pirates runner should have been locked up for a life term.

And he would have labeled it dirty because the player was so far from home plate, making no attempt to touch the dish.

The fact that the umpires or New York could somehow get that call wrong speaks to the ambiguity - and danger - of today's rules.

This is something baseball must clarify immediately, or else there's little point to having the bubble-wrap rules.

Still, it was a great baseball play by Rizzo and it won the game for the Cubs, legal or not. Maddon called it "good, hard baseball," which it was, and until a few years ago it would have been legal and applauded.

To his credit, Maddon stayed consistent and said he "had no problem with the slide" when Pittsburgh's Joe Musgrove went hard into Javy Baez Wednesday night.

Once again, Baez risked injury when he did not protect himself, and had some angry words for Musgrove when the Pirates pitcher was a safe distance away.

When the 6-foot-5, 260-pound Musgrove turned around and approached Baez to ask him what he said, Baez suddenly had no problem with the slide at all.

Smart move.

What's happening is that many involved in these rulings are uncertain of the regulations, including the players, umpires and officials in New York, while players have made the mistake of believing they'll never be touched simply because MLB doesn't want them touched.

That's crazy. And dangerous.

brozner@dailyherald.com

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's "Hit and Run" show at WSCR 670-AM and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter.