The most expensive mask
 

Another one. Here it is:

http://www.honigs-canada.com/detail....ub=36&Item=790

Even for a mask that gives the best view, protection, comfort, and appearance (if you like HSM's), would you be willing to pay this much?

no...the only way I could justify it would be if I had brain surgery or something like that.

I think my head is worth $545... but I bet my wife doesn't!

I do not wear helmets, so no, a helmet priced at 444 USD would not be worth it to me.

So would you spend $550 on the mask cardinalfan? There are thousands of umpires out there who don't use it and are safe w/ their < $200 masks...

Certainly it's 100% your choice..but it seems like an unnecessary expense for no guarantee that it's any safer than a $100 mask.

I have a Shock FX that I have only tested, but never used in a game. I would use the HSM if I was injured, like Johnny said (although I wouldn't require surgery first), or I would get the All-Star if it was lighter and more effective, which it probably is (I was at Honig's on Tuesday; I should have tried this thing on). If I was into skiing or golf or tennis, I would drop a half a grand pretty quickly and pretty often. My pastime is baseball, and I get to keep the crap that I buy to equip myself. I was the best-equipped coach with the best-equipped kid; now I'm the best equipped umpire. (My dad's one of those bass players with five custom-made basses---it's genetic.)

There was a kid who was the catcher on our travel team in the early 2000s (he's a D-I freshman now). He was taking a pitching lesson from the late Dave Smith in 2003, was working without a screen, and took a liner in the side of the head. He suffered an eggshell fracture of the skull and was airlifted right off the San Diego State mound and hospitalized for a month. He hung it up as a pitcher, but re-emerged as a catcher months later wearing the super duper $500.00 All-Star HSM. It was sweet then; I am sure this one's even sweeter.

Effin' Kevlar, man! And for only 7.6 game fees!

Guarantee?!?

Come on, Johnny ... The strongest materials, the best coverage---of course it's safer than any mask. We're not going to start this again are we?

I'm an old school mask guy like you, but I am not going to assert that a mask could possibly be as safe as a HSM.

nah...didn't intend to start an argument/debate over what's safer (although when I reread my post...it does lean that way)...I agree that the HSM has better protection than traditional masks...i don't want to hijack the thread down that path...

Geez, when I re-read your post, you seemed to be saying HSM, but didn't specify. ;)

Nice of them to go to the trouble of posting a picture of the $500 mask.:rolleyes: What, not in the budget?

The one thing about Honig's is that they couldn't care less about the photos.

Of course the HSM protects more of the head, but for a straight on shot do you have some type of information to back up your claim that a HSM is safer than a standard mask? If you don't then you have no way of knowing which is safer.

After decades with various masks, I've used that Kevlar All-Star helmet for the past four seasons. Although the link doesn't give a model number, it's undoubtedly the UMP2000. Incidentally, $545 is pretty steep. It listed for $395 when I bought it, and the selling price was $320.

All-Star makes a couple of much less expensive helmets that look very much like it. The distinctive difference might be the color of the cage, but I'm not sure. The MLB catchers' helmets are identical, except that they don't have the "Pro-Tanium" cage and do of course have the team artwork.

At any rate, it's a superb piece of equipment. Not heavy, great vision, total protection. Engineered to deflect almost every shot, so jolts are rare. Another advantage is that it always cleans up to look new (except the pads, of course).

Disadvantages are those inherent in helmets. A bit hotter, despite the advertising claims. Hard to pull it off and keep your hat on. If you don't wear a hat, you have to find a way to keep the sweat out of your eyes. And shots that hit the "Pro-Tanium" cage sound like a firecracker going off.

One other point: the vision is so good that you really don't need to take it off. I always do, though, just because that's the custom.

By the way, I've never personally seen another one in use by any umpire not in the pros.

I answered this, but I guess my response violated some kind of rule about how you can respond to certain insiders, irrespective of how they treat you or others.

Well, let's see ... no, I don't have any scientific studies. The protection is just superior, sir, with all due respect. But if you don't feel that's the case, then, of course, I no longer believe that's the case.

How's that?

Heck no. Just a joke.
I alternate between a Wilson Shock HSM and a conventional mask.

I would like to see a picture of the mask, though. Just curious.

No.

Um, guys:

That price is Canadian dollars. The conversion to US dollars might still make it relatively expensive.

About $444 USD per my previous post. ;)

Prices do vary with exchange rates. I checked the price in the YSISF catalogue: 13 goats (includes tax and shipping). One of the UICs over there tells me he got his for 11 goats, though.

So you admit to not having anything to back up your wild claim. Currently no one knows which is safer and for your to pretend like you do is just incorrect. You saying "the protectiuon is just superior" does not make it true.

I would.

I bought the Titanium mask b/c I don't like the bucket and it is the best mask I can get at the moment.

I bought my WV mask in 1997 for $80 and at the time it was the best one I could get and the most expensive too if I remember correctly.

The way I see it, is you buy the best you can get and use it for as long as you can. The WV mask ran me about $7 per year that I used it. If I have this titanium mask as long, then it will run me less than $19 per year, and I think that I can handle that.

It is like buying a computer now a days, get the best one you can, because the second you buy it it is out dated. The next new thing will come along, but me and the Titanium will be together for awhile.

I probably would have gotten this one if I used a bucket.

Thank you for being there. It's nice to know there is someone out there to rely on for the ultimate point of view.


For the record: I have caught with a Rawlings, an All-Star and an Easton and taken many high velocity blows. I have recently tested the Shock FX by being purposely drilled by college pitchers. I have taken straight blows to the grill with four different buckets and every single one of them offers a less jarring blow than any mask. The Shock FX is the most resilient of them all. Even a decent bucket offers a less jarring blow on straight shots to the face than any mask after years of personal testing. Everyone I have ever known to discuss the subject makes the same attestation. Every single one.

Luckily, I am blessed with an open-mindedness that doesn't cause me to doubt absolutely everything unless there is some $cientific $tudy to prove whatever point that the interested parties want proven. I am neither that naive, nor that gullible, nor that intractable.

Yeah, right, "currently no one knows which is safer," except all of us who have used both extensively for many years and dozens of blows. I'll continue to pretend that I know that a bucket is safer, while I continue to use a mask for umpiring.

$cientific $tudy ... :D

Lighten up. His point is simple and apparently accurate...there has been no study to determine which is safer. There are plenty of conclusions based on individual observations and there is much anecdotal evidence.

Some will choose to accept that which is available as Gospel. Some will defer until they see reliable data.

Does anyone really care?

Did you control the possible variables such as speed of the ball, where it contacts the mask, position of the head....? If not then you can't say that any mask is better as each blow to your head was different. I could take 50 blows to the mask by pitches moving at the same speed but only be injured by one of them. The fact that you haven't got hurt yet using the HSM doesn't actually mean anything.

What about the PBUC study saying that the Shock FX users were injured more often than other HSM users? I know that study has a small sample size but the fact that you reached the conclusion that it is the best mask and PBUC says it is the worst proves the point that one cannot judge a mask by only how often its users get hurt. One must control the variables in order to reach a definitive conlusion.

If the odds of getting injured by a baseball hitting you in the mask are 1 in 50 then you saying you were hit dozens of times doesn't really matter. 36 shots to the face without getting hurt doesn't mean that your mask is super awesome when the odds of getting injured with the average mask are 1 in 50. Everyone on here knows that the HSM may be safer but no one knows for sure. It is weird that you fail to see what is obvious to many others.

You are a different kind of person. You are one of those imperious people who must feel he is right about everything, whether you are or not.

If you like $cientific $tudies, then believe what you wish. I believe what I know to be true, and not what a $tudy concludes. The Shock FX is the softest straight-on blow I have ever received of any helmet or mask as a catcher or umpire.

So that means I am concluding that the Shock FX is safer than a mask and in my case, you are wrong, and the $tudy you are so apt to believe can line my daughter's bird's cage.

Why don't you teach a class where everyone has to act like they think you're right?

Opinions are what they are. If you disagree with everything certain people say, you know and will continue to know less than you should about life and people. Good luck.

I have to say that this last part--and the first part too, really--is some of the most ridiculous crap I have ever read.

I almost can't believe you are serious.

"Did you control the variables?"
:D:D:D

Come on guys let's not fight. If you want the mask then buy it, if you don't want it then don't buy it. If we disagree about its quality fine, but it seems silly to make things personal over a mask.

Yeah, I know. He should have never made this personal.

Why did he pick me to disagree with no matter what the subject, whether he's right or wrong?

I have to go. There are some variables that need controlling.

Based on my recollection of the thread (and I admit not going back to read it all) he didn't -- any more than you did.

Knock it off. Both of you.