BASEBALL & SOFTBALL EXPERT WITNESS
John Pinkman Can Assist Your Client in Several Ways
Best Practices and Standards
Investigation of Historical Patterns of Player Management
Through his experience, Mr. Pinkman understands that spontaneous accidents may have a pathology of negligent supervision. Upon detailed investigation, a pattern of management can be uncovered that led to the increased possibility of a tragedy. While typically seen in overuse injuries, negligent patterns can evolve from a failure to create a culture of safety and encourage reckless behavior.
Extensive Product Knowledge and Appropriate Use
As a columnist for Collegiate Baseball News for the past decade, John Pinkman has chosen the Best in Show products at the American Baseball Coaches Association trade exposition; perhaps the largest baseball equipment tradeshow in the nation. ABCA membership exceeds 7,000 members. He annually scrutinizes over 300 booths and their products.
The knowledge of those products, current industry standards, and appropriate uses are a major asset to law firms. Further, the constant exposure to and knowledge of the benefits of emerging technologies keeps him abreast of current best practice.
Coach Pinkman’s knowledge of specific baseball related products and their lack of use by coaches is also valuable. Manufacturers that produce athletic equipment will admit that purchasers of baseball equipment have been the most resistant to change. Baseball is one of the major sports least likely to embrace technology and scientific fact. As such, many vital advances in the standard of care relative to player safety equipment and education, nutrition, and sports medicine, all of which can prevent serious injury to players, are aggressively dismissed and ignored by its field supervisors.
National Perspective
As a result of his travels and direct personal experience as a baseball teaching professional, journalist, and clinician, John understands the baseball culture. While the majority of coaches are careful, concerned, and committed, baseball is replete with outdated, incorrect conventional wisdom. Some leaders, whether old or young, continue to operate with information that has long been proven false.
Coach Pinkman clearly understands valid coaching experience and standards. As an industry leader speaking to a national audience he has sought to raise coaching education, standards and expectations. He rejects the concept that coaching qualifications can be validated based solely on playing baseball many years ago. Incorrectly and unfortunately, the assumption of credible player experience dismisses the need for recent, current, and continuing coaching education.
There is a cultural sense that because many understand the national past time of baseball they can teach it. Many have watched or played the game at some level. However, while being sensitive to local customs, conventional wisdom does not indemnify or excuse actions of supervision that do not provide for best practice.