Quote:
Originally Posted by BretMan
(Don't take this the wrong way, as I'm not trying to argue or persuade you to change your mind. I think that anyone should be free to wear any piece of protective equipment they see fit. Just take it as a me playing the devil's advocate as we kick around the subject of cups on the bases.)
Does anyone wear a mouth guard, polycarbonate safety goggles, helmet or heart guard while working the bases?
I would find the prospect of losing some teeth, an eye, having a brain injury or having my heart stopped as bad or worse than the one-in-a-million chance of losing one of the boys. It seems like you would have an equal chance of getting hit in any of those unprotected areas.
There's nothing to prevent a base umpire from wearing any of these devices. Are they not worn because they are not the norm? Are we placing our personal vanity or appearance above our personal safety?
Or, are we making the decision that the chance of injury is so infinitesimally small that we forgo the added protection?
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That's cool.
Except, we are less likely to get drilled in the head because, A) our arms/hands naturally go up significantly faster in a protective movement than they go down; and , B) our duck or flinch reflex mechanism is ruled by what our eyes see and it is vastly easier to make an unpredictable bounce or direct shot miss your head than it is to make it miss your groin or midsection.