Lets change your post just a bit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty
The issue is SOLELY about the degree of death and damage a shot to the neck causes. The odds of getting hit are irrelevant. If you get hit, it is intolerable, and can be horrifically injurious. If it were ankle or shin protection we were discussing, then that risk/reward thing and odds of getting hit would be relevant. There is ZERO tolerance to a neck shot. So odds on getting hit are irrelevant.
The exit speed of a 90 m.p.h. fastball struck by a big slugger with a metal bat can reach 115 m.p.h. even at the H.S. level. I would say that a foot or head can move in time to avoid being struck. The center of one's body cannot.
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Given that death is likely worse, even in your estimation, than a jewel shot and the probability is not important as you stated earlier, I don't understand why you wouldn't advocate wearing a mask and throat guard on the bases. My argument in this case as in the other is about assessing appropriate trade offs (subjective to the assessor alone) and making the appropriate choice or for short risk-reward decisions.