Face Masks - Rec League Now Mandatory in our league

[Dabears17]

Last year, I was at the head of the push for pitchers to wear masks in our rec league. At the end of it, we decided on making it a "strong recommendation" rather than a mandate.

Our league encourages wearing one and provides one in the equipment bag if a team requests it. I personally bought an extra one for our team last spring.

When someone asks me about it, I say its up to the parent, and point to my DD wearing one at 1B or pitcher.

I was pretty convinced around 2008-2009 they would be made mandatory for pitchers, if not pitchers and corners. I'm surprised they haven't been yet.

 

[Rocketech1]

About 6 years ago, DD's former rec league in SoCal made masks mandatory for all pitchers in every division. As these kids moved into travel ball, most have continued to use masks. Last weekend, we played in a fairly large 14u tournament (40+ teams) and the vast majority of pitchers were wearing masks. IMO, getting pitchers used to mask use when they are in rec leagues makes the transition to travel ball mask use fairly seamless.

 

[Eric F]

About 6 years ago, DD's former rec league in SoCal made masks mandatory for all pitchers in every division. As these kids moved into travel ball, most have continued to use masks. Last weekend, we played in a fairly large 14u tournament (40+ teams) and the vast majority of pitchers were wearing masks. IMO, getting pitchers used to mask use when they are in rec leagues makes the transition to travel ball mask use fairly seamless.

TCS in Huntington Beach/Irvine?

 

[Rocketech1]

TCS in Huntington Beach/Irvine?

Ohana Tigers Winter Classic

 

[STRIKE3]

Our league does not require it but a couple of years ago it became the trend and several now do. I hope it continues!

 

[Sweet Lou]

No league in there right mind would supply them, since there is not a national standard for safety ratings, if something happened they would get sued and lose.

It will be just like a glove, kids are responsible, they might have a hand-me-down exchange or discount to local store but they can't buy them.

It is possible and I have heard this as an argument for why they aren't mandated more often in more leagues.

However, I disagree that it would be an easy case to win. I think for someone to win the case they would have to prove that more damage was done from wearing the mask than would have occurred had the mask not been worn. I think that would be very difficult to prove. But I'm not a lawyer so I'll leave the legal issues to some more qualified folks.

 

[Eric F]

One of the concerns brought up in our discussion of the issue related to liability. If the mask is mandated by the league, a player forgets to put it on, and gets hurt, the coach and the league could be held liable for not enforcing their own rules. In the end, we decided to buy a mask for each coach's bag, and make it a "strong recommendation", putting the ultimate responsibility on the choice of the player/parents.

 

[Rocketech1]

One of the concerns brought up in our discussion of the issue related to liability. If the mask is mandated by the league, a player forgets to put it on, and gets hurt, the coach and the league could be held liable for not enforcing their own rules. In the end, we decided to buy a mask for each coach's bag, and make it a "strong recommendation", putting the ultimate responsibility on the choice of the player/parents.

On the flip side, if several rec pitchers get injuries to the face without wearing a mask and the league does nothing to address the situation, couldn't the league be open for liability? This was the exact fact pattern that happened with our league (a couple of bad injuries) that convinced our Board to finally mandate masks. I have seen no downside to mandatory masks at the rec level.

To the point about a pitcher forgetting to wear the mask, this rarely happened and if she took the circle without it, the many coaches (HC, AC, etc.) who are at the game would speak up immediately. Putting on the mask becomes part of the pitcher's routine, just like grabbing her glove to go out on defense.

 

[Eric F]

On the flip side, if several rec pitchers get injuries to the face without wearing a mask and the league does nothing to address the situation, couldn't the league be open for liability? This was the exact fact pattern that happened with our league (a couple of bad injuries) that convinced our Board to finally mandate masks. I have seen no downside to mandatory masks at the rec level.

To the point about a pitcher forgetting to wear the mask, this rarely happened and if she took the circle without it, the many coaches (HC, AC, etc.) who are at the game would speak up immediately. Putting on the mask becomes part of the pitcher's routine, just like grabbing her glove to go out on defense.

Our league addressed the situation by issuing a "strong recommendation". The lawyer-minded folks on the board thought this was the best coarse of action on the issue. Personally, I thought our league should have made it a mandate. Regarding coaches, however, I did not observe the league's "recommendation" being encouraged strongly enough (IMO), and there were pitchers in 10U and 12U (not sure about 8U) who pitched without a mask.

 

[Vertigo]

We (the BOD) enforced the mask rule for our local LL for P, 1B, and 3B the Minors and Majors levels. We could order them at discount for families who did not already have one; plus any family could come to us and we'd make the purchase if it was a financial hardship for them. After 2 years of being enforced, almost every girl playing IF and even most OF's wore the mask. We never had one parent complain about the rule. As safety officer, I never had one incident involving being hurt by a ball hitting a player in the face while wearing a mask, but had a few involving players who weren't wearing them (hence why we moved to enforce it).