Plus Pos BB168 Blind Umpire Braille Indicator

[illiniwek8]

LOL....Has anyone else seen this? Is this for real? A Braille Indicator? I need to get one of these so I can share it with the fans when they ask me where my glasses are! Thought I would share this with everyone....It is pretty close to April Fool's...but I don't think this is an April Fool's...it looks real.

[DG]

Originally posted by illiniwek8
LOL....Has anyone else seen this? Is this for real? A Braille Indicator? I need to get one of these so I can share it with the fans when they ask me where my glasses are! Thought I would share this with everyone....It is pretty close to April Fool's...but I don't think this is an April Fool's...it looks real.

I could not work the plate, or bases, without my braille indicator.

[Dave Hensley]

It's called a "Braille" indicator because it is notched, so you can "read" it by touch instead of having to look at it.

[ozzy6900]

Yeah, I use one. And when the coach tells me I'm blind I unfold my red tipped white cane and go over to him and show him the braille indicator. Then I ask him go to my car and give my seeing eye dog a treat!

In all seriousness, this is all a lot of hoo-ha. An indicator is a tool not a crutch. One doesn't need to stand there staring at it, a passing glance is all it takes to look at it. But alas, gimmcks and bad advice keep these moronic companies in business. I wonder if the unshaven, hands in the pockets models that +POS uses are a sign of things to come?

[greymule]

I got the "Braille" indicator a few years ago.

Positives:

Very heavy duty stainless steel. You could use it as brass knuckles if things got really out of hand. It will last forever.

The construction quality and machining are very fine. You can take it apart and clean the insides easily.

Except for the notched wheels, it is smooth in your hand.

It has a wheel for innings. More useful for counting runs in slow pitch, except that each inning you have to remember how many times you've gone past zero. (Did they get 22 or 32?)

Negatives:

The numbers are very hard to see even in the daytime.

The wheels are hard to turn and get harder as you use it. Your fingertips will get sore from turning the wheels all day (the notches are rather sharp). I'm going to try to oil it.

Eventually you get used to the notching, but the "feel" doesn't follow a natural order. You have to use it a while before you remember which particular notches mean what. I have to keep looking at it to make sure I'm feeling the right numbers. It's more like, "Hmmm, this feels like two strikes, but let's look to make sure." The instant count they claim you get is a stretch, for me.

I also have the aluminum +POS indicator. The catalogue says it's heavy duty stainless, but it's not. Good indicator, though. You don't have to fight the wheels to turn them.

I guess the Braille one is a cool thing to have, but I find myself using +POS's cheaper indicator, the plastic one with big, easy-to-read numbers.

My favorite indicator was a Rawlings. It cost me 49 cents and served me well for many years, until the plastic wheels finally disintegrated. I've kept it, not because the case is metal, but because the indicator itself is a real rarity: stamped into the metal are the words "Made in U.S.A."

[mbyron]

Originally posted by greymule

The wheels are hard to turn and get harder as you use it. Your fingertips will get sore from turning the wheels all day (the notches are rather sharp). I'm going to try to oil it.

May I suggest trying some of the spray graphite rather than oil? Might avoid those embarrassing oil stains...

[greymule]

Today it would be easy to program a computer chip so that the indicator simply announced the count when you pressed a button. Just think, you could choose different modes:

Three balls one strike
Three and one
Three one
Thirty-one

etc.

You could also choose among voices:

Gruff
Sexy
Timid
New Age
Friendly

etc.

The deluxe model could contain various things you usually say in a ball game, so you could just press a button to hear:

On the corner
You went
Get in there and hit
Right there
Shaddup

etc.

[kylejt]

I got one as a gift, and it's spent most of it's life in my bag. It's heavy, tough to turn, has impossible to read numbers and the reflection during day games is brutal.

Aside from that it's great.

[TwoBits]

Originally posted by greymule
Today it would be easy to program a computer chip so that the indicator simply announced the count when you pressed a button. Just think, you could choose different modes:

Three balls one strike
Three and one
Three one
Thirty-one

etc.

You could also choose among voices:

Gruff
Sexy
Timid
New Age
Friendly

etc.

The deluxe model could contain various things you usually say in a ball game, so you could just press a button to hear:

On the corner
You went
Get in there and hit
Right there
Shaddup

etc.

I'd patent that idea as fast as I could!

[UMP25]

Originally posted by kylejt
I got one as a gift, and it's spent most of it's life in my bag. It's heavy, tough to turn, has impossible to read numbers and the reflection during day games is brutal.

Aside from that it's great.

So essentially it's a typical +POS product.

[UMP25]

Originally posted by Dave Hensley
It's called a "Braille" indicator because it is notched, so you can "read" it by touch instead of having to look at it.

Good umpires don't have to look at their indicators that often anyway. Hell, I can reset mine without even looking at it.

I love the rookies who stare at their indicators so much that they think they'd die without doing this.