Baseball is definitely a contact sport

Just ask Cardinals catcher Yader Molina, who was involved in a nasty collision at home plate in which he got turned around and took a charge from Eric Bruntlett facing the wrong direction. Interestingly, catchers are particularly susceptible to concussion, even though they are not always aware of the fact they may have concussion symptoms:

"We did a survey of 260 major- and minor-league catchers and asked them a series of questions," Conte said. "When we asked if they had concussions, most said 'no.' When we asked them after they had been hit by a foul tip if they ever got dizzy or ever blacked out or felt nauseated — basically concussion-type symptoms — about 25 percent said 'yes' to that. ...

"But do we have a serious problem with foul tips and concussions with catchers, the answer seems to be 'no.' In the last seven years, we've only had six catchers go on the disabled list with concussions and only two of them were on longer than 15 days."

Molina spend one night in the hospital and appears to be recovering quickly. Luckily, the team is approaching his return with caution:

St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina will rejoin the team Tuesday, but it is not yet known how long he will be out due to the concussion he suffered Sunday.

No long term effects?

You might think we have learned a lot about concussion management over the past several years, but sometimes knowledge does not translate into practice.

Case in point: Johan Franzen suffers a subdural hematoma (a collection of blood between the skull and brain) following a hit in a hockey game.

"I had a collection of blood," Franzen said. "It was not in the brain, but between the skull and the brain. It self absorbed between two and three weeks.

"It was a little bit scary. I couldn't do anything because that would have beendangerous. When it's the head, you get kind of scared. I was glad nothing happened because I played with it for a while, so, it's a good thing nothing happened."

So, he missed 6 whole games in the playoffs, returning in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals against Pittsburgh. The General Manager described the situation as being dictated by headaches:

"He had a bunch of headaches. We thought it was normal, but it persisted and got to be abnormal. Game 1 (against Dallas), he got hit real hard, it looked to me by (Steve) Ott, and he complained of headaches the next morning. We did an MRI, and it showed he had a little bit of subdural hematoma. So we needed that blood to dissipate and it did, and then he played when he did."

"It certainly appeared like the original injury happened during the Colorado series, and then he got hit again and then we did the MRI, and that's when the doctor shut him down until the blood was dissipated," Holland said. "We weren't sure when he'd be able to play. We did an MRI after one week, and after two weeks, the blood was gone, and then they wanted one more week.

Luckily, there was no concussion:

"It's important people know he didn't have a concussion, because once you have a concussion, you're concerned about a history. He didn't have a concussion. He just had basically, in layman's terms, a bit of a bruise on the brain. Now that it's over, it's nothing. It's nothing that's going to affect him long term."

A hit severe enough to cause bleeding within the skull, persistent headaches, and removal from athletic competition. However, no concern about what caused the bleeding to occur, or whether or not it will happen again. No long term effects?