proper tightness
 

What is the general agreement upon how tight your wear your umpire mask?

Loose.

Tight enough that when hit in the mask it doesn't end covering my ear, and lose enough that I can quickly remove without removing my hat at the same time.

Not quite sure how to measure that for you, foot-lbs, psi, kg/m etc.

Bull1HIT . . . you're mask should spin and come off during this sitautation.

Don't fall for bu!!****e when it comes to safety.

t

Proper Tightness of Mask
 

A good rule of thumb is when wearing your mask and you look down, the mask should fall away from your face enough for you to easily put your index and second finger sideways between your mask and chin. YMMV.

thanks for the help everyone

Not at all tight. Loose enough to go flying to the back stop when hit by a foul ball and not too loose that it comes off when I bend over to clean the plate.

+1.

Honestly I have never even thought of this until reading this thread. I have never had to worry about this as each mask fits and moves appropriately. Never adjusted a single mask in my career yet. I guess I am lucky.

Peace

I always take my mask off when I sweep the plate. :confused:

That said, I agree with the others that it should be "loose".

It should be loose, so that as much of the kinetic energy of the ball as possible goes into making the mask fly off instead of into colliding with your face!

Thats as much as I needed to read.

Your mask should rest on the bill of your properly fitting, snug cap. The straps are just there to keep it from flopping off. The looser the better, as long as the pads are resting on your face when you're in your stance. I like 3-4" off my chin when I look at my shoes.

No one has really said why... if you wear it tight, then ALL of the energy of the ball is transferred to your face. Can cause concussions. If it's loose, then all of the energy of the ball is transferred into the motion of the mask. Same reasons they WANT cars to spin, roll, or fly apart when Nascar has a crash - dispersal of energy. We all saw what happened to 3 when his car did nothing but stop.

As they say, it's not the crash that kills you, it's the sudden stop.

Yes ... I often say, I'm not afraid of falling ... I'm afraid of landing.

This is the principal danger when wearing the HSM. It stays on! Your neck withstands the full force of the blow, irrespective of how well the shell protected your skull, the energy of the blow is absorbed by you.

Wear your mask loose and let it spin! Of all the wisdom that Tim C. has offered us throughout time, this could well be the most valuable to us as human beings. I had a straight shot at mid-90s, and my loosely worn mask wound up 20 feet away, with its titanium cage slightly bent. I was back at 'em in 30 seconds. I didn't even buckle, really, because the mask went with the ball, rather than remain with me and make me take 100 percent of the force.

The same blow in a tightly worn mask or, even worse, a HSM, and I would have, A) stood wobbly for the eight-count, B) gone down for the count, or, C) gotten counted out.

LISTEN TO TIM C. AND THOSE WHO CONCUR WITH TIM C.!! LOOSEN IT UP AND LET IT GO WITH THE BLOW.

I didn't even adjust the straps of my Wilson titanium mask when it came in. It pretty much rests on the bill of my hat with very minor support coming from the straps.

I haven't yet been hit with it, but I'm pretty sure it'd come flying right off my head.

+5