Gear of hypocrisy

[erniekru]

I personally love the no cage batting helmet.. Look, there is no difference between baseball and softball in that regard, this isn't just a little kid thing as Little League is pretty rigorous in their safety standards.

To me it's more of a "it's always been done like this, so we keep doing it".

If you WANT to wear one, wear one. Shouldn't be baked into the rules, just like fielders masks aren't baked into TB and HS rules.

 

[Rolling Hard]

How about you just let them choose and that be the end of it? They're big girls.

My thought is that some college coaches suggest that not wearing a cage is better. Makes you look tougher and fearless, blah, blah, blah. Macho bullshit. I just can't imagine a player who has worn a cage her whole life gets to college and says "yippee! I don't need a cage anymore, I can finally be fearless and see the ball better."

 

[Rolling Hard]

While I personally can't imagine not wearing a mask if I was batting (and they are not "metal cages"...smh), in college they have a choice, at least at the D1 level, so it's theirs to make. I remember watching the WCWS a number of years ago and seeing a player from Baylor foul off a ball straight up into face, knocking her out of the tournament.

That said, I call BS on the excuse that the mask impacts their vision. They've worn a mask at every level leading up to college and clearly it couldn't have impacted them too much, seeing as they've made it to the top collegiate level. And as a former hockey player who had to wear a mask, I can also vouch for the fact the mask essentially "disappears" from view, thanks to the way the brain works.

Yeah, the brain has to work first.

 

[Rolling Hard]

I personally love the no cage batting helmet.. Look, there is no difference between baseball and softball in that regard, this isn't just a little kid thing as Little League is pretty rigorous in their safety standards.

To me it's more of a "it's always been done like this, so we keep doing it".

If you WANT to wear one, wear one. Shouldn't be baked into the rules, just like fielders masks aren't baked into TB and HS rules.

Yeah, they are probably OK for co-ed slowpitch Thursday night church league.

 

[justanotherguy]

We should just require full body bubble wrap. That's the end of it, no choices.

Yes, that's being facetious, and sarcastic, but it's still the point.

My DD is one that'd take her mask off and throw it away the second you let her. She played baseball through 14u, and she hates the mask. It does interfere with vision, to an extent. If you were raised your whole life wearing one, you don't notice it. If you weren't, you notice it. She wears a "baseball" helmet with the additional add on face mask. It had 3 rows, and I cut off the top one. I tested it, the only way a ball is getting in there is if it comes STRAIGHT through the face mask. Any other direction and it will be blocked. Looks just fine, no one has noticed it in the year and a half since I did it. She's far happier. She's 17, that's her choice. Past 16u, it should be the person's choice. In college? Definitely the person's choice. If you want to wear one, or a facemask in the field, I think no less of anyone that does, even baseball players. Just don't FORCE it. JMHO

 

[Northball]

... does anyone know of foul balls in baseball coming up into the players face?...

Not baseball, but I did see a D3 SB game where the same batter fouled a pitch up into her mask twice in two different at-bats. I think that was more a product of how she swung the bat. Not much power so trying to dink and dunk to get on base.

 

[Lobster Birch]

Cages are not required for Little League, curiously. I saw a girl foul one into her nose once and break it.

 

[ArmWhip]

I saw a D1 batter foul off a low inside pitch and take it full in the face.

 

[erniekru]

Yeah, they are probably OK for co-ed slowpitch Thursday night church league.

Clearly you just want to be "right" in your opinion and you were hoping that everyone would jump on the bandwagon with you... We could all sing kum-bye-yaaa.

So, it there a material difference in the liklihood of taking a pitched or batted foul ball to the face in FP softball vs baseball? Just so you don't have to do the calcs, the time of flight for a 70mph baseball from 60ft(calc'd at 55' release) is .535sec. The time of flight for a 55mph softball from 43'(calc'd at 38' with same 5' stride) is .471sec.

Is that time delta materially different, resulting in facial injuries? Or are you saying that girls aren't as fast reacting as boys?

Or could it simply be a relic rule put in place for a multitude of different reasons?

 

[ArmWhip]

It happens.