Baseball-Related Injury

Approximately 10 million children and adolescents play baseball as part of a team or in backyards each year in the United States. While baseball is a great way for people of all ages to get out and get some exercise, injuries can and do occur. Taking a few precautions will help reduce the chance of injury and help everyone enjoy our national pastime.

Baseball-Related Injury

• More than 110,000 U.S. children younger than 18 years of age are treated each year in emergency departments for baseball-related injuries.
• The most common mechanisms of injury are being hit by the baseball and being hit by the bat.
• The face and the upper extremities (shoulders, arms, hands) are the most commonly injured areas of the body.

Who is Injured?

• Boys are injured more often playing baseball than girls.
• While injuries occur year-round, the majority of injuries occur between April and June, which coincides with youth baseball season.
• Adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 years are more likely to have been injured while sliding than younger children.
• Injuries that are the result of sliding are more likely to be fractures and need hospital admission than injuries caused by other mechanisms.
• Children younger than 5 years of age with a baseball-related injury are more likely to be injured at home and to sustain injuries to the face than older children.

Prevention Tips

• Reduced-impact safety baseballs should be used for all youth league practices and games.
• Safety baseballs, which are softer than regular baseballs, should also be used by children at home.
• Breakaway safety bases should be installed on all baseball fields used by youth leagues - including public parks and schools.
• Batters should wear helmets equipped with face shields both during youth league play and at home.
• Children should wear properly fitted mouth guards when playing baseball, especially pitchers and infielders, to reduce the number and severity of dental injuries.

Additional Baseball Resources

• Baseball-related injuries to children treated in hospital emergency departments in the United States, 1994-2006
  • PubMed Abstract - June 2009
  • Press Release - May 2009
• Epidemiological features of high school baseball injuries in the United States, 2005-2007
  • PubMed Abstract - June 2008
  • Press Release - June 2008