Creighton Hale, who in the late 1950s invented a batting helmet that gave Little League Baseball players better protection, and who later rose to the top ranks of the organization as it grudgingly accepted girls, died on Oct. 8 in Williamsport, Pa., where the league has its headquarters. He was 93.

His son, Tad, confirmed the death.

When Mr. Hale, a physiologist, arrived at Little League as its first director of research in 1955, he began to compile data that he hoped would improve the safety of the game and help him understand its players better.

He measured the reaction times of pitchers, which led to moving the mound back two feet to reduce the frequency of their being hit by batted balls. Taking the pulse rates and blood pressure of players, coaches and managers before, during and after Little League World Series games he determined that youngsters handled competitive pressure better than the adults.

His analysis of injuries led to changes like eliminating the on-deck circle, where players were at risk of being hit by foul balls.