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Chest protector - Honigs Elite, not sure of model #, foam cell ribbed style, bought couple years ago for less than a C note ($65 - $70?).
Tonight it was worth a hundred times the price. Varsity lefty, throwing in low sixties, hard one on the inside corner barely ticked by batter, just enough to rise over the catcher's glove into the middle of my chest.
I knew that I got hit; the whole park knew I got hit. I am standing there thinking "Am I dead? Unconscious?" The chest protector absorbed the entire shock of the ball and I didn't feel a thing!
That is the first time ever that I have been hit over the heart. When I read about or see umpires that will not wear the equipment, it give me the shivers. What I got tonight is the type of shock that could put you in a horizontal position forever. But I never felt it.
WMB
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