gerry davis

[His High Holiness]

Originally posted by brian43

you might as well stand behind a plexi-glass panel and call the game from there.

im sorry, but i dont care if you are carl childress. i will never wear arm pads, and even if i get hit, an ice pack after the game will cure the swelling.

In my own association, we had an umpire look into calling the plate behind a 6 foot police plexiglass riot shield. We identified a riot shield that was a about a third of a circle around the umpire.

The problem was the cost. We did not want to spring for about $400 for an experiment. The visibility would be great, protection superb, and it certainly would be the coolest way to work on a hot day.

The potential problems that we identified were that any ball that the catcher did not catch would careen in many wild directions off of the shield. Also:

1. What would the PU do with the thing after a hit? Where would he toss it?

2. What kind of visual distortion (if any) would the PU see looking through curved plexiglass?

3. For transport, the shield would have to be in two pieces. Few umpires could get a six foot object inside their cars.

You raise the subject of protection and how you despise arm protection. You might feel differently as you get older. Bones over 60 can take twice to four times as long to heal as bones under 25. I have known several older umpires whose careers were ended by injuries that would have just produced a severe bruise on a younger umpire.

Peter