Never said it wasn't, just questioned your, IMO, comparisons between the games. Not the same.

Years ago, the day be for a family vacation, I took a foul bal off the snot bucket, and upper lip. It actually tore off some of my cool 'stash. Sment most of the trip sitting on the sidelines because of the pain. I still have a scar clump on the inside of my lip. I wear a mask now. I know that umpires of vastly more experiance than I will tell you that the slot may protect you -- it won't.

Besides I have been told that our insurance won't cover an injury if we're not wearing a mask.

Bugg

No, it doesn't really protect you, but places the umpire in an area least likely to get hit.

Well, somebody is blowing smoke up your tail now.

I'm around 6'6' when I'm standing, so I take up a lot of space... I dont use a mask,and probably never will. I contribute not being hit to setting up in the slot and actuallly going down to the propert level to the the pitch. I think good mechanics takes away a LOT of the risk there as foul ball in SP usually take an upward arc.

An illustration demonstrating the likelihood of getting nailed in different positions behind the plate.

(Okay, it's from a baseball source. But I think the same would generally hold true for slow pitch.)


http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z.../slotzones.jpg