Team Insight

Sales of the C-Flap, which has been on the market for almost 40 years, have been strong at the thousands of retail stores now stocking and selling the C-Flap, according to the owner of the C-Flap, Herb Markwort, president of Markwort Sporting Goods, who poses the question: If the C-Flap is good enough for these Major Leaguers, shouldn't it be good enough for every other base- ball player? What's not to like? Well, it's not that simple and Markwort says that, at the moment, he's caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. The problem begins with none other than NOCSAE, the group that tests products for safety and then decides what is legal and illegal at the high school and college levels. "There is no NOCSAE test or standard for C-Flap," Markwort explains. "NOCSAE says if a C-Flap is attached to a NOCSAE (certified) batting helmet, then that batting helmet is no longer NOCSAE- approved or certified." According to NOCSAE regulations, any batting helmet with C-Flap attached needs to be tested and certified as a new and unique batting helmet. Essentially, that means that every model of every batting helmet that C-Flap attaches to would technically need to be tested and certified. And every year when new batting helmet models are introduced they, too, would have to be separately tested with C-Flap. That logic escapes Markwort. "The C-Flap is tested and has proven itself at the MLB level every day," he points out. "The kind of C-Flap testing down the path that NOCSAE wants is very expensive, very time consuming, there's lots of paperwork and the end result would be what we already know — C-Flap protects." Of course, Markwort has a vested interest in NOCSAE getting on board with C-Flap. "Even though business, on the surface, is good, we realize C-Flap sales could be many times higher if we could just get NFHS and the NCAA on board or out of the way," he says. "But, right now, the NFHS continues to defer us to NOCSAE and, thus, no helmet maker wants to associate with C-Flap. We need to reach out to the NCAA because, up to this time, our lobbying effort has been focused on the NFHS." Elliot Hopkins, director of sports, sanction- ing and student services for NFHS (National Federation of State High Schools) is certainly aware of Markwort's efforts. "Our position regarding the C-Flap remains the same — if the baseball helmet manufacturers approve the addition of products to their helmet, they honor their warranty and it meets the NOCSAE performance standard with it attached, then we would consider allowing the C-Flap," Hopkins says. (The NCAA Baseball Rules Committee does not currently have an official stance on the C-Flap extension, but it will reportedly review the impact of the nullification of the NOCSAE standard during its January meeting.) Despite the uncertainty of its status at the high school and collegiate levels, C-Flap extensions will continue to be worn by big leaguers. "Rawlings has become a major C-Flap customer for us and that, in turn, has led to all the exposure we get every day at the pro level, but Rawlings is only doing C-Flap for the pros," Markwort explains. For now, Markwort will have to be content with that high-level exposure and grassroots acceptance of the C-Flap while the rules-making bodies sort out the issue. Teamwork Athletic Adds Player Lines Teamwork Athletic Apparel recently obtained the rights to manufacture apparel for each active roster player in the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) and Major League Baseball Hall of Fame (MLBHOF). The product line now being offered by Teamwork solves an inventory problem for retailers who want to supply player apparel. Teamwork's technology and no-inventory business model helps eliminate this issue, which helps create a market for the lesser-known athletes in the sport. Now available on Amazon, all products feature authentically licensed signatures, photography and artwork for the MLBPA and MLBHOF. "The feedback and response from the buying public has been great," says Jenny Johnson, mar- keting assistant at Teamwork Athletic Apparel. "During this past holiday season, we've have had a ton of interest from retailers." More recently, Teamwork Athletic this month acquired the license to Norman Rockwell. Obit: Creighton Hale, Inventor of Little League Helmet Creighton Hale, who in the late 1950s invented a batting helmet that gave Little League Baseball players better protection, and who later rose to the top ranks of the organization, died Oct. 8 in Williamsport, PA, where the league has its head- quarters. He was 93. When Hale, a physiologist, arrived at Little League as its first director of research in 1955, he began to compile data that he hoped would improve the safety of the game and help him understand its players better. To develop the helmet, Mr. Hale wanted to simu- late the pitcher-to-batter confrontation. He built a compressed-air cannon with parts that he had bought in a local hardware store. Working from his laboratory in the basement of Little League's offices in Williamsport, he used the cannon to fire baseballs at various speeds at a plastic helmet mounted on a wood model. Testing showed that it could absorb a direct hit from a ball traveling at 90 miles an hour without cracking or being driven into a batter's head. In addition to being able to withstand pitches thrown at high speeds, the helmet had a flap on each side designed to protect the temples, ears and cheekbones. Hale's dual-earflap helmet became mandatory for Little League batters and runners in 1961. Hale also invented a catcher's helmet with a mask attached to it and a chest protector that guards the catcher's throat. He worked with Alcoa Aluminum and other companies to develop aluminum bats as a cost-effective alternative to wooden bats. 20 Team Insight / January 2018 teaminsightmag.com C-Flap: Good for MLB, not for NOCSAE. TEAM / BASEBALL Creighton Hale and his groundbreaking helmet. All Rise for the new Teamwork MLBPA line.

• Cover