Taking off the mask

[NCASAUmp]

What "hand" are you, and when you first learned to take off your umpire's mask, was it easy for you to take the mask off with your left hand?

I'm right-handed, or at least I think I am. At least I've always been raised right-handed, but I sometimes wonder. Everything else about me is left-side dominant: I listen to the phone with my left ear, I dropkick a soccer ball with my left foot, I used to skateboard like a "lefty," I'm left eye dominant when I go shooting, I even drive with only my left hand on the wheel.

But I'm right-handed. And for me, it's much more natural to take off my mask with my left hand than with my right. Trying to take off my mask with my right hand seems... Weird.

Just a random thought I had this morning when getting ready for work...

[BretMan]

I'm a righty, but I'm so used to using my left hand to pull off my mask that I don't even think twice about it. It was so long ago that I first started doing it that I can't even remember if it was awkward for me or not- but it probably was.

I'm lucky in that when I first started out I had a pretty good trainer who was really strict about doing things the right way. So I knew that you were supposed to use your left hand right off the bat and that's the way I always did it.

It's kind of the same with holding your indicator in your left hand. I seem to remember that feeling strange to me at first. There was a point early in my umpiring career where I broke my left hand and had a cast on it. So for a few weeks I had to hold my indicator in my right hand. That felt really strange! About the time it started to feel normal, the cast came off and I switched back- and it felt strange all over again.

Even though it's not how we're supposed to do it, I still see a good number of umpires around here that always use their right hand to remove the mask, as well as guys that hold the indicator in their right hand. Sometimes they're rookies and that kind of explains it. But I still see some guys with 20+ years of experience that do it "backwards". And it bugs me!

[Andy]

I'm very right-handed, but it was drilled into me when I started umpiring that the mask is always removed with the left hand, so that's what I did from the beginning. I don't remember it feeling awkward or difficult at the time, now it's just natural.

One of our older guys who retired from calling a few years back always took his mask off with the right hand, then quickly transferred it to his left hand.
The only reason I know this is because he told me. He was so good at it and able to do it so quickly that by the time you looked at him, he already had the mask in his left hand. When I started watching him more closely, I was able to see what he did. I guess he just never got comfortable with using the left hand.

[NCASAUmp]

See, and that's the odd thing. I'm new at this, so the little oddities are fresh in my mind. Yet taking off my mask with my left hand seems natural. Taking it off with my right seems, well... just... wrong.

It's like trying to throw a ball with your opposite hand. You can do it, but your body is massively mixed up when you try.

[BretMan]

Maybe you've been umpiring for so long that your brain just instinctively knows your right hand is for signalling.

[MD Longhorn]

Standard umpire mechanic - remove the mask with the left hand.

Standard way to recognize an untrained umpire - see him remove the mask with the right hand (then see him smack a runner with it when signalling an out!)

[ronald]

and how do you put the mask back on. I have been told that the ncaa has a way to do it.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by NCASAUmp

What "hand" are you, and when you first learned to take off your umpire's mask, was it easy for you to take the mask off with your left hand?

Left, always left, nothing, but the left and, please, don't anyone tell me they cannot do that with an indicator in there hand.

I've been doing it since 14 yo and not these lightweight masks, but a coated cast-iron mask.

[jr131981]

what do you mean by hand??? no one else just throws it on the ground behind HP?

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by jr131981

what do you mean by hand??? no one else just throws it on the ground behind HP?

Ask KR how that works out.

[NCASAUmp]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

Left, always left, nothing, but the left and, please, don't anyone tell me they cannot do that with an indicator in there hand.

I've been doing it since 14 yo and not these lightweight masks, but a coated cast-iron mask.

Yeah, I don't know what all the fuss is about. I'm a righty, use a 4-wheel indicator, and I'm a total FP newbie behind the plate. But taking the mask off with the left hand just seems natural to me. I've only bumped my hat three times in 4 plate games (never lost it, though).

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by NCASAUmp

Yeah, I don't know what all the fuss is about. I'm a righty, use a 4-wheel indicator, and I'm a total FP newbie behind the plate. But taking the mask off with the left hand just seems natural to me. I've only bumped my hat three times in 4 plate games (never lost it, though).

Just don't forget to pull the mask off, not lift it over your head. And remember, the mask should never be tight. If you bend over and look at feet, it should fall off.

[okla21fan]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

Left, always left, nothing, but the left and, please, don't anyone tell me they cannot do that with an indicator in there hand.

I've been doing it since 14 yo and not these lightweight masks, but a coated cast-iron mask.

catcher for over 20 years makes for a hard habit to break. Mask comes off with the right hand and quickly change to the left. (yes, I know this is not the proper mechanic)

[Skahtboi]

Originally Posted by okla21fan

catcher for over 20 years makes for a hard habit to break. Mask comes off with the right hand and quickly change to the left. (yes, I know this is not the proper mechanic)

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.

[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!