Kaz Ishii is able to walk. Soon he'll be released from the hospital, victim of a fractured skull. Hopefully, he will be pitching soon, but maybe not this year. Hopefully, he won't flinch every time a ball is hit remotely close to him. When he does return, stand and cheer. He'll deserve it.

Sunday, Ishii was struck in the forehead by a line drive hit by Houston's Brian Hunter. It was a sickening sight, a 6-ounce baseball, hard as a rock, traveling roughly 110 mph when it struck a defenseless pitcher standing off balance, blinded by the sun, 55 feet from home plate. That horrific thud, like a boat oar slapping a slab of meat, is a sound you never forget.

Ishii will pitch again. Chances are, he will be good again. For that, he will earn our complete admiration, as should all baseball players. They are hard men playing a hard game, a very dangerous game that cannot be played on the major league level without tremendous courage and bravery. There is nothing more terrifying in sports than Randy Johnson throwing a baseball 98 mph at your face, or Vlad Guerrero hitting one 110 mph at your head. Fear of the ball is what separates baseball from golf; it is why kids quit the game the first time they get hit; it is why baseball is the hardest game in the world to play.

If a normal person were to be hit like Ishii was, he'd never get back on the mound against a major league hitter. But big leaguers get back out there, they conquer their fears, and they compete. Norm Charlton twice got hit in the head by line drives, and went out there again. In 1995, he was hit in the forehead by a 100-mph line drive by Steve Finley. Charlton was bleeding as he walked off the field, but was the first one in the clubhouse the next morning, prepared to pitch (he didn't).

"I had two black eyes and a huge bump in my forehead, I looked like a unicorn," he said. "A couple days after, I had to go buy a TV. I looked so deformed, the salesgirl was afraid to wait on me. She had to leave. The store manager had to finish the sale." Charlton was traded to the Mariners that year. "The video guy there had a tape of that play, but he told me he didn't have it because I know he didn't want me to see it," Charlton said. "I wanted to see it. I enjoy seeing it because I knew that I was ready to pitch the next day."

How can he explain not being afraid?

"Because," said Charlton, "I'm an idiot."

Three years later, Charlton said, "What are the odds of that happening again?" Less than four hours after saying that, Frank Thomas hit a line drive at Charlton. He got his glove up in time to slow it down, but it hit him between the eyes, breaking his nose. He walked off in a trail of blood and asked trainer Richie Bancells, "How bad is it? I've got a date."

Billy Wagner got hit in the head, and came back. So did former big leaguer Willie Blair. So have a lot of guys. Others haven't. Bryce Florie made it back to the big leagues after his face was smashed by a line drive, but his return was brief. Herb Score's career was cut short after getting hit by Gil McDougald's liner in 1957. Mike Wilson's career never got started.

Wilson was a prospect in the Tigers system. On April 4, 1994, his 21st birthday, Wilson was hit in the mouth by a line drive by the aptly named Boo Thompson. "It tore a hole into my naval cavity," Wilson recalled several years later. "I put my hand to my mouth and two teeth fell into my hand. The third tooth that was knocked out landed at second base. Our second baseman brought it to me." It was so bloody, Wilson's catcher ran off the field to vomit.

"The oral surgeon looked at me and said, 'Oh mercy, I'm speechless,'" Wilson said. Amazingly, Wilson was pitching in a minor-league game two weeks after being hit. But he never regained his velocity, which dropped from 94 mph to 85. He was no longer able to throw his good curveball because he wasn't following through on his pitches: he was concerned about landing in proper fielding position. He didn't realize it, but any ball hit close to him, he flinched.

He retired in June 1996. "I was scared," he said. "Psychologically, I was scarred." He keeps his two front teeth in a jar at home "just to remind me how life can change in a second."

Ishii wasn't hit as badly as Wilson and will be back. We should all hope for that.

Tim Kurkjian is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine and a regular contributor to Baseball Tonight. E-mail tim.kurkjian@espnmag.com.