Taking off the mask

[shipwreck]

I've seen Major League umpires take their masks off with both hands. JMHO but I think it looks amateurish. It looks to me like they haven't taken the time to master taking it off with just their left hand. Dave

[CelticNHBlue]

Started at age 13, tried to do it left-handed and just had the worst time trying to get it to work without losing my hat. Finally gave up, even with all the vets telling me to do it right. Now, it's off and in front of my body quickly enough that virtually no one notices. The only two people who have noticed in the past seven years: KR and EA. KR demanded I fix it, EA was impressed how quickly it gets to the left hand and had no problem with it.

So now the question is, why exactly does it have to come off in the left hand? I am certainly aware of the 'signal with the right hand 'argument and the tradition that goes along with it. Yet, in my 27 years, I have never come close to an instance where removing it with my right has led to anything negative. In fact, I would argue for it to be a problem you have to either 1- leave it in the right hand or 2- be making a signal so quickly that you probably rushed the call. Both of these are easily remedied.

Ultimately, I don't see why there is all the fuss. When I train umpires, I suggest that the preferred method is to use the left hand, I make them aware of the possible kickback of being caught by the wrong person when using the right hand, and I provide the context for getting the mask to the left hand immediately after it is removed. Curious to hear others opinions...

[youngump]

Originally Posted by Skahtboi

Funny, I have the same problem and for the same reason. I even practiced taking it off with my left hand at home repeatedly for years, but whenever I am on the ballfield, instinct takes over. The switch to the left hand is so quick that rarely does anyone ever notice.

So, when I was in college I broke my left hand fairly badly and it gives me just a little grief even just to hold an indicator, so while I've tried repeatedly to learn to get my mask off with my left hand, I've never been able to do it without losing the indicator half the time or it hurting.

A couple of years ago a friendly respected veteran pointed out I was doing it wrong (at this point I wasn't consistently getting it to my left hand after taking it off, so really wrong). Then he showed me what he does. Off with the left hand, into the right hand and then back to the left hand the way he likes it. The right to left I do now, makes more sense to me.

[RadioBlue]

Originally Posted by okla21fan

Mask comes off with the right hand and quickly change to the left.

I did this for the first 20 years of my career. I was very young when I started umpiring (14 or 15) and had/have smallish hands. I found it difficult to get the mask off with my left hand. In fact, I was very quick getting the mask off with my right and moving it to my left that none of my UICs ever noticed (or, never made a point of dinging me) until just 5 or 6 years ago at my 3rd ASA National.

I worked very hard the next spring to "learn" to be a lefty and am happy to report this old dog did learn a new trick!