Among the coolest things about being a Major League ballplayer, save for the spoils of wealth, fame, status and fulfillment, is being able to rock the one-earflap helmet for the first time in a lifetime of playing baseball. From Little League all the way through college, batting helmets are obtrusive, cranial-consuming behemoths that alert the world to the fact that you are a human being whose skull is as vulnerable to injury as any other mortal.

Then, once you’ve risen above 20-something years of competition and arrive in the big leagues, it is determined that only one ear requires protection and the helmet is transformed into a sleek, kabuto-esque head cover of the utmost style and sophistication. For some reason, every season there is a small but reliable set of players determined to spit in the face of progress and sport the old-school double-flap helmets of their youth.

There is a profile for the Little League helmet player – they are generally diminutive infielders with a little bit of pop in the mold of Brian Roberts or Dustin Pedroia, neither of whom actually wear double-flap helmets. Prominent recent double-flappers include Mark Bellhorn and Orlando Hudson, who have hit 69 and 68 home runs in their respective careers.

While Bellhorn and Hudson combined for 455 major league plate appearances in 2008 (all coming from Hudson), the tides turned in the world of helmet-atrophied ballplayers, with a new player rising from the mysterious fog of the Far East, via the less- interesting fog of Lake Erie.

What happened that so thoroughly rocked the world of double-earflapped professional baseball players? Two-ish words: Shin- Soo Choo. That’s right, the Indians’ own little Korean guy on the corner happened, in a big way, posting a .940 OPS in 370 plate appearances, including a .992 mark against right-handers, good for fourth in the American League.

I don’t have a ton of data to compare it to, but it is my hypothesis that Choo’s 2008 campaign may well be the best season ever in terms of maintaining an even ratio of offensive prowess and aural protection. Prove me wrong; I challenge you.