July 01, 2005

Protection. For his pleasure.: "Over time, blood flow can be significantly reduced and nerves may be bruised, causing numbness and tingling, reduced sensitivity to cold and bluish-colored skin."

Absolutely SFW. A study by Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center has found that catcher's gloves do not provide adequate protection.
via boing boing


posted by lilnemo to baseball at 04:25 PM - 3 comments

I found this little tidbit interesting:

The current design of catcher's mitts ensures that most pitches are caught at the base of the webbing, at the bottom of the index finger, where many vessels and nerves are located. Pitchers and field players tend to catch the ball in the webbing itself, away from the hand.
This is one of those things you completely forget about in the stands, but is very... palpable, when you are actually playing. This is not the kind of sports injury you hear alot about, though you would think it would be more common. Could this be the next "tennis elbow"?

posted by lilnemo at 04:54 PM on July 01, 2005

I never played anything more advanced than high school ball and the base of my index finger would be bruised all season long. Funny thing is I was a catcher and a second baseman and I always wondered how much more it would hurt catching a hard throwing 98mph fastball. I couldn't have been catching anything harder than the low 80's. I'd be interested to know the percentages of non-catchers. Playing second base I had a really small glove. Catching the ball in the same spot is the only way to catch the ball with these type of gloves. I never took to padding, just couldn't get the same feel for catching the ball with it...although if I was a big leauger Im sure I'd reconsider.

posted by oliver_crunk at 05:43 PM on July 01, 2005

Not sure what catchers do beneath the gloves, but in cricket some notable wicketkeepers like Rodney Marsh (known as Iron Gloves early in his career) have used things like plasticine to cushion the repeated shock on the hands. Or is this sort of thing banned in baseball? BTW only the wicketkeeper can use gloves - other fielders use bare hands.

posted by owlhouse at 06:28 PM on July 01, 2005

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