face mask

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by SAump

Ties for the most ridiculous rule in this thread. Having the mask dangle off the bill of your cap is as ridiculous as allowing the chin pad to dangle 3-4 inches away from your jawbone.

Also, the most illogical advice I have ever read on this website. That's why the damn pads are there. Wear the thing the same way every catcher and umpire in baseball wears their mask, resting against their forehead and chin. If you're too scared and follow this advice, i.e. dangling mask from bill of hat or 3-4 inch jaw clearance, then don't get behind the plate.

Wearing the mask like a catcher would be highly illogical, since catchers wear them to fit snugly around a skull cap or batting helmet. Even catchers who just wear a hat backward, wear the mask tight so it doesn't fall off. That is the main reason, besides aesthetics, that umpires differ in the way they wear their hats with the bill forward...to hold up the mask, which is to be worn loosely. There is a natural gap when looking down at the ground. If you can look straight down, and your mask is still tight against your chin, you're wearing it way too tight.

[Tim C]

Everyone:

Whenever SAump or PWL post ANYTHING . . . please consider the source.

Cripes,

[DG]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

Wearing the mask like a catcher would be highly illogical, since catchers wear them to fit snugly around a skull cap or batting helmet.

When did catchers start wearing batting helmets?

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by DG

When did catchers start wearing batting helmets?

I'm talking about the ear flap-less batting helmets that catcher's use, you know, like batting helmets used to be before the ear flaps. All catchers that use conventional masks use them in most leagues I've worked. Sometimes though, the catchers just turn their caps around.

Here is a picture of Johnny Bench wearing a batting helmet, just for example:

[Dave Hensley]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

I'm talking about the ear flap-less batting helmets that catcher's use, you know, like batting helmets used to be before the ear flaps. All catchers that use conventional masks use them in most leagues I've worked. Sometimes though, the catchers just turn their caps around.

Here is a picture of Johnny Bench wearing a batting helmet, just for example:

aka "skull cap."

[DG]

Ah, skull cap. No longer permitted in high school ball.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Skull caps are those half-helmet affairs which do not feature a bill. What Bench is wearing in this picture is his batting helmet. Plus, not all baseball is high school ball.

[DG]

Those helmets have not been permitted for any players entering the major league since 1983, while batting. So while this may be Bench's batting helmet it is not permitted as a batting helmet today, and not allowed for catchers in HS.

[Dave Hensley]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

Skull caps are those half-helmet affairs which do not feature a bill. What Bench is wearing in this picture is his batting helmet. Plus, not all baseball is high school ball.

Baseball Express calls this a skull cap.