Broke with tradition tonight

[WestMichBlue]

Put the old iron mule (mask) out to pasture tonight.

Wednesday night Woman's FP League, 3 (7 inning) games back-to-back-to-back. Only a short break between games, no time to change. So one does the plate for 3 games, next week has the field for the night.

Tonight was my night behind the plate and I was not looking forward to 4 1/2 hours of that heavy honker pulling down on my head and tangling with my hat, etc. I could have opted for a lighter mask, but I just didn't see enough difference to justify the bucks. Instead I broke with tradition and bought - (gasp) - the hockey style mask!

Did the first game with the iron mule, then switched for the 2nd game. The first thing I noticed was that everything was brighter - the view was so much greater. I also discovered that I was going to have trouble with the setting sun that the hat and mass of the iron mule had previously shielded. It is very light, and comes off easy. It doesn't even come close to conflicting with my glasses (I don't wear sport glasses, just my normal wire frame,large lens glasses.)

When I first tried these on at the stores, I hated them - they just felt so different. Today I didn't even try it on; I was so determined to change that I just bought it and decided to go with it. As soon as I had some pitches comming at me I forgot about the mask and focused on the game. After a couple innings I was so in love with the new mask I knew that I would never go back to the old iron mule.

I am not a trailblazer; a lot of guys I work with in West Michigan already are wearing the hockey mask. How 'bout your area? Anybody switching yet. You?

WMB