Leaderboard

I'll let others go into more detail, but the main idea is to heat the plastic to where it's pliable and then reshape it to fit your body and hold it there, or restrict it in place somehow, while it cools and re-hardens. You are re-forming the hard plates to fit your shoulders and arms mostly. If you do it a few times; heating, shaping and then keeping in place while it cools - then you'll end up with a CP that fits tighter to you than one out of the box could ever fit. You can use a heat gun (preferred) or hair dryer (same results, but takes longer). Don't overheat or you'll lose the shape entirely, no puddling here please. The best method is slow and steady. Remember to remove the padding first so that you are only heating the plates. I've seen guys use hard objects (i.e. a basketball) to reform the chest plate and then tape the plate to it or maybe they would rubber band the shoulder parts around a football or something of the sort to get the plates to form better to their shoulders or arms. Some do heating, restricting and then put the CP into a freezer to 'flash-freeze' the cooling and do several cycles. There really is no right or wrong way as long as you end up with a CP that fits you better than you started with, but I recommend exercising patience and take it slow. It's easier to add more heat to make a CP more pliable, than it is to reshape a melted plastic plate.

Assuming R2 and R3 is the same runner and this was not NFHS, that would be Type 1 OBS and dead ball immediately with R2 awarded 3B. If NFHS I would think I would call the ball dead at the end of playing action which could be the original tag but if play was allowed to continue an award of 3B to R2 would nullify the OBS at the end of playing action.

The mechanics are: (1) Point and call the interference (2) Wait to determine the fair/foul status of the ball (3) Call time, reinforce the interference call, call R1 out and then either send the batter back or award him 1B. Same for all codes.

If the HC *refuses*, then he's restricted and no one else has the HC rights.

Disclaimer….there are a lot of opinions and personal feel here 😊 All Star Cobalt: The short brim fits with every mask on the market, so you don’t get the “direct bridge from mask to skull” effect. (If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, there’s an article floating around somewhere that talks about bill length being one of the biggest overlooked safety factors with skull caps.) The shell itself feels DURABLE. Solid. Not flimsy at all. Unfortunately, that also makes it super heavy. I think it’s around 16 ounces or so — several ounces heavier than the Easton, which I already thought was too heavy. “Oh but I’m tough and it doesn’t bother me.” Ok, I’m not. Try a lighter one and you’ll know what I’m talking about after 4 tournament games in 100* heat. Ventilation…..what ventilation? It doesn’t vent at all. It’s hot, and heavy. The padding is probably the best stock padding on any of these. Between this and the Easton, they’re the most comfortable internally. However, it does not hold the skull cap in place very well. The shape is almost like a cone — it just gradually opens outward from the top until the bottom edge. Some of the others have more of a long flat section so they sit on your head more like a cylinder, if that makes sense. This one moves around the most for me. I personally think this one looks stupid, and you can’t convince me it’s SO much safer than the others that I need to look like a dingus wearing it. Did I mention it’s hot and heavy? Jadekylin Skull Cap: This one looks the most like a regular hat, but the bill is WAY too long for probably any mask. Again, no scientific evidence here — just my experience with the All Star MAG and GD Mirage. If it’s too long for the GD Mirage, it’s probably too long for most others. The padding is pretty stiff, but not terrible if you get the right size. I’d wear this one if I had to wear a hardhat in the field for some reason. Rawlings Coolflo: These tend to fit “longer,” but not wider. Specifically with the All Star MAG- I originally thought the bill length was fine with the All Star MAG because I had taken several foul balls and never noticed the mask pushing back into the bill. Then I took one last year that literally left a line on my forehead where the skull cap got driven into my head. After that, I swapped back to the Easton for the rest of the season. One interesting thing: if you order different sizes, the actual shell size is exactly the same. The only difference is the amount/thickness of the padding inside. A Large measures the same inside length and width as a Small — the Large just has thinner padding. I assume this is probably indicative of other brands to save cost on mass producing many skull caps at once, but this is the only one that I actually measured before selling the others. To help the fit issue, I bought a set of Easton replacement batting helmet pads (NOT the actual Easton skull cap pads — and if anyone finds those, let me know because I’d LOVE them). I used one of the long oval pads in the back of the Rawlings to push my head slightly farther forward. I tried putting extra padding in the front for additional forehead protection, but it pushed the skull cap too far off my face and made the mask feel like it was floating out in front of me. Moving the padding to the back fixed that. I also hated the pleather pad feel on my forehead, so I added some bike helmet sweat-strip pads to the front. That helped with sweat dripping into my eyes and got rid of the pleather feeling on my forehead. This skull cap is actually lighter than both the All Star and the Easton, so I was eager to go back to it once I got the GD Mirage. It’s what I currently use. EvoShield: First problem: the bill was WAY too long. I actually had one of our maintenance guys mill it down a bit just to see if I could make myself like it…nope. I also hated the gloss finish, so this thing was fighting an uphill battle from the start. That said, I do think it was the lightest overall. If they made this in matte and shortened/shaped the bill a bit, I actually think it could be a decent skully. But that was never going to happen for me. The padding was similar to the Jadekylin — if you order the wrong size, you’re basically screwed. There isn’t a lot of forgiveness in the fit. If you’re within about a quarter hat size, you’re probably okay. But if it’s too tight, it’s REALLY too tight. Easton: I wore this one for a few years before switching to the Rawlings. The shorter bill worked well with the All Star MAG. The inside padding has a nice moisture-wicking layer around it and is SUPER comfortable. Very soft padding. Unlike the All Star though, this one actually stays in place well because the padding has more “give” and wraps your head better. Honestly, I’d love to somehow transplant this padding setup into the Rawlings shell. The two issues that eventually pushed me away from it were pretty significant: It’s heavy. Slightly lighter than the All Star, but still heavy. It’s HOT. It vents better than the All Star, but nowhere near as well as the Rawlings or some of the lighter options. A non-issue-issue….the forehead is raised higher than I’d like it to be, so I feel like it makes me look like a Brachiosaurus, or something. Personally, with the addition of the little padding, I like the Rawlings much more than any of the other options.

I prefer to put the inexperienced guy at 1st. 1. U1 only comes in for R2. Let the new guy get comfortable with the system with the least amount of bouncing back and forth to the inside. 2. U1 (at least how I pregame it) makes the initial decision to go out for a shot to center, so R3 needs to be able to key off of that decision. I would rather the inexperienced guy makes a decision they are used to from 2-man. An experienced U3 can make the adjustment. 3. With no-one on, a good U3 can push back on U1 trying to come in and take the BR to second by mistake. 4. U1 has a little more time to recognize the rotation and get down to the plate. Or U3 can remind him with enough time to get there. While being on the plate is much closer to 2-man, I think an inexperienced guy gets a better feel for how the 3-man system runs as U1 because they aren't having to also deal with balls and strikes, lineups, substitutions, and all the other game management the plate deals with. This is especially true if the reason you are running 3-man is because it is now HS postseason and the pressure has gone up.

When a call is reversed, the umpire makes it right. Score both runs.

[deleted because embarrassed what I wrote.]

I respect the effort, but stave off the fire; instead fold the excess back upon itself into a "tab", wrapped with two circuits of electrical tape. Not duct tape, nor gorilla tape, nor... duck tape, nor athletic tape. Vinyl electrical tape. That wondrous stuff only sticks to itself, so it doesn't leave behind any gross residue if/when you need to take it off, and it can, of course, handle the heat juuuuuussssssst fine. Small trick of those who flip or re-color masks often.

Sounds like unsound catchers in front of you. If that's the case, use the balloon and don't think twice about it.

You need to get a Maroon plate coat too.

Pro: You can emulate your favorite AL umpires from the 1970s Con: You'll look as dorky as your favorite AL umpires from the 1970s