This was the headline on the front page of the Wall Street Journal on May 25, 1990. Roger Hall was born and raised in Harrisburg, PA, and developed a love for baseball as a young boy. He played and coached baseball and softball into his early adulthood and witnessed many leg injuries from sliding into bases. One afternoon, while coaching his baseball team at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, one of his players suffered a horrific leg injury sliding into 2nd base. Roger decided it was time to fix this problem.
After years of trial and error and a great deal of personal sacrifice financially, Rogers® Breakaway™ Base came to market in 1981. Sales were sluggish, and the baseball and softball community struggled to adapt. Unbeknownst to Roger, an orthopedic surgeon named Dr. David Janda from Ann Arbor, Michigan, had treated what he felt were too many foot, ankle, and knee injuries caused by sliding into a base.
Dr. Janda conducted two studies, one in 1983 and the other in 1984, and determined that base sliding significantly contributed to injuries in recreation softball. A pioneer in preventative sports medicine, Dr. Janda suggested that base sliding be abolished or recessed bases be considered. Neither of these suggestions would have been accepted by traditionists.
Dr. Janda’s determination to solve this issue led him to a call with a Park & Recreation director out of Arizona. The director told Dr. Janda they switched their fields to Rogers® Breakaway™ Base a couple of years ago and hadn’t had a sliding injury since.
Dr. Janda contacted Roger and conducted more clinical studies comparing Rogers Breakaway Base to traditional bases. Multiple studies over multiple years in recreational baseball and softball leagues, as well as college-level players, were conducted and recorded, and the results were indisputable.
The data from these studies were submitted to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and extrapolated to include all ball fields in the United States. The results again were staggering. Base sliding was responsible for 71% of all injuries in baseball and softball. Switching all ball fields to Rogers Breakaway Base could eliminate 1.7 million injuries per year (a reduction of 96%) and save 2 billion dollars in related health care costs (a 99% reduction). The findings of this report were published by the CDC on March 25, 1988. Roger finally accomplished what he set out to do – make the sport a safer place to play for all ages and levels, including youth, teen, adult, and pro.
Roger received an award from the Consumer Products Safety Commission, and Dr. Janda moved his entire orthopedic practice to preventive sports medicine and later engaged with several congressional committees to further his work.