[DG]

Originally Posted by Uncle George

A few years back I was behind the plate in a high school game with temps right at 100! Humidity was up there too, 75% or better. Between innings I went over for a drink of cold water when the coach of the home team called me over to his bench. He took a towel out of a water cooler and told me to "cool off"! After doing so, I ask him what he had in the cooler. He was a former catcher with the Cubs (so don't hold this against him). He said that when he played they would take a cooler with about 2-gallons of water in it, add about 1/8 to a 1/4 cup of amonia to it and fill it up with ice. For some reason (which I don't understand), the amonia makes the water colder, or it seems to be, the amonia also, when you wipe your face and head with it, makes the water disapate much faster and "wakes you up", thus cooling you off! If you think I pulling your leg, try it but I must warn you, put all over the cooler it big, huge letters, DO NOT DRINK, CONTAINES AMONIA!

I learned about ammonia buckets when I was a youngtser playing. When I coached I had a cooler with slushy ice water, rags, and ammonia and I never had a player succomb to heat. It was more like a half gallon of water, ice and 2-3 tablespoons, ie a small cooler. Now that I umpire I carry a small cooler with me to games when it's over 90 degrees. Note that this is Spirits of Ammonia, not ammonia like you use for cleaning.