| Notes |
- The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH)
October 11, 2000
Edwin R. Crick Jr., 85, who designed the first batting helmets used in Major League Baseball, died Sept. 30 at the Chardon Center nursing home.
Mr. Crick began thinking up ways to protect players from head injuries in 1950, while talking baseball in his back yard in Chester Township with his brother-in-law, Ralph Davia. The two men, both architectural engineers for the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., drew up a crude design for a hard baseball cap to be worn by batters, then produced one by coating a cloth cap with plaster.
They pitched their idea to Branch Rickey, then general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Rickey helped them develop the concept. Their plastic helmet was introduced to the professional ranks by the Pirates in the mid-1950s. Samples of those early hard-hat caps are on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Mr. Crick later was involved in designing protective headgear for other sports, including drag racing, skiing and football.
The Pittsburgh native served in the Navy in Europe during World War II. By the late 1940s, he was working in Pittsburgh during the week and living in Chester Township on weekends. He later moved to Chardon.
He retired from Pittsburgh Plate Glass in 1976.
His wife, Jean, died Jan. 1, 1998.
Mr. Crick is survived by his sons, Edwin III of Russell Township and Michael L. of Munson Township; two grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
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1914 - 2000 (85 years)
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