The Holy Grail of umpire gear

[BretMan]

Garth, I believe that you are right about the Nike titanium. As I mentioned here last week, our local association was lucky enough to have MLB umpire Tim Timmons address our last meeting. Tim is from this area, his father was a longtime member of out association and both came up through our ranks. Both remain honorary members. Tim is kind enough to stop in each year before heading south for Florida.

The subject of masks came up last night and we were told that Nike produced a limited run of only 300 titaniums. Most all were earmarked for use in MLB.

Tim also told us that he went to a helmet a few years ago, but found it personally uncomfortable in the heat. He went to a lightweight mask and got his bell rung a couple of times, then switched the Nike mask and hasn't had any problems.

Being exotic material and in limited production, we were told that the NIKE's ran $1000 a copy!