3rd baseman hit with line drive

oregonfp said:

My DD is a high school freshman 3b and wears a facemask. She has been told by other players and coaches that she will not get recruited if she continues to wear one. She doesn'rt care. The safety and security it gives her allows her to play that position aggressively.

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DD has already said that any college coach that wouldn't recruit her because she wears a mask when she pitches wouldn't be a coach she'd be interested in playing for anyway.

I just don't understand all the psychological back and forth about needing to coach girls different than boys yet these same coaches consider a protective mask a crutch.

Said it before, will say it again - the only difference between parents of players who wear a mask and parents of player who don't - we don't mind that your kids don't wear a mask - why does it drive you crazy that ours do?

Also - for Ms. Nuveman-Deniz at SDSU - still waiting to see that contract from you and other coaches like you that GUARANTEE with your instruction there will never be a need for additional player protection...

I agree bats are to hot. Someone mentioned a wood bat. While it could happen with a broom handle less likely and I wish they would go to wood bats period. Homers look, sound, and are great and there would be fewer but the better batters would still hit them. And yes my DD has one of the "hot bats" but if they announced they could not be used I would gladly throw it away.

Mine pitches 14U and wears a mask and evoshield. I can't stand it when we play a team where the pitcher isn't wearing a mask, I can't even watch.

Phathead said:

I agree bats are to hot. Someone mentioned a wood bat. While it could happen with a broom handle less likely and I wish they would go to wood bats period. Homers look, sound, and are great and there would be fewer but the better batters would still hit them. And yes my DD has one of the "hot bats" but if they announced they could not be used I would gladly throw it away.

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I don't think we would have to go all the way back to wood, but metal would be fine. Also , you are right about the good hitters. It would be much easier to see who was a real hitter. I think it would definitely change things for a lot of players

Going all the way back to wood is not as black and white as you might think. Picked this one but you can find documents supporting both opinions.


http://www.littleleague.org/Assets/old_assets/media/FactSheet.pdf

As far as the mask goes, I hope that since they are so prevalent at the younger levels now and the players are comfortable with them , the mask will become increasingly more visible in the HS and College levels.

CycloneSoftball22 said:

As far as the mask goes, I hope that since they are so prevalent at the younger levels now and the players are comfortable with them , the mask will become increasingly more visible in the HS and College levels.

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I'm fairly sure this will be the case but it will take time to work its way into it. Most safety issues are fought tooth and nail by the "back in my day crowd". Heck hockey goalies once opposed face masks and hockey players resisted mandatory helmets for years, now show me a hockey league at any level that doesn't use them. Same for batting helmets in baseball - little league first started requiring them in the 50s I think and by the end of the 60s MLB was required to wear them, though existing players were grandfathered. Would any coach let their players hit off live pitching without a helmet these days?

Sweet Lou said:

I'm fairly sure this will be the case but it will take time to work its way into it. Most safety issues are fought tooth and nail by the "back in my day crowd". Heck hockey goalies once opposed face masks and hockey players resisted mandatory helmets for years, now show me a hockey league at any level that doesn't use them. Same for batting helmets in baseball - little league first started requiring them in the 50s I think and by the end of the 60s MLB was required to wear them, though existing players were grandfathered. Would any coach let their players hit off live pitching without a helmet these days?

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May not be as long as you think. I know plenty of HS Sophomores and Juniors that have "grown up" using the mask. They will be college athletes soon

Oh and after Brandon McCathy of the Oakland A's suffered a brain injury from a linedrive to the head that had him in surgery and ended his season last September, MLB is considering special hats for pitchers to offer some protection. I don't think it has gotten very far yet but if it does I'm sure it will work its way down to the lower levels fairly quickly.

For you guys that are fairly new here, I played ASA ball from 1964 - 1979, prior to batting helmets being required. We hated when they were first required. Now, an athlete wouldn't think of batting w/o one. Now, HS is requiring a cage on the helmet. College isn't doing that, yet.

Change is slow to come. I also wore metal spikes as a 10 yo. I don't know when those were outlawed, but I never saw a problem with them.

I wear a face mask, now, every time that I put on my glove. (But I still hate batting helmets. )