NEW "unequal" umpire chest protector

[hckyosgood30]

Anybody seen this? Or have any thoughts on this?

http://youtu.be/EG_wVE_wS44

[mtnump]

Interesting to say the least...

[Kevin Finnerty]

He should have let Jason Klein test it.

[midmoump]

There are a lot of materials out there including Zorbium, Brock Beads, Zoombang, and now Kevlar. What we are talking about is absorption. The plastic plates on your hard shell are designed to absorb impact by distributing the force across the plates. The interior padding is mainly there for comfort and is typically made from a moisture wicking polyester.

According to Unequal's website, the size of the Kevlar is around 5mm, or about the same thickness as the plastic plates on your hard shell protector. The design that was shown in the video is a "soft shell protector". In this case the Kevlar is sewn into the polyester fabric and perhaps sits on a filler material for comfort.

The weight that is raved about raises my eyebrows. The Douglas chest protector is the lightest hard shell I have tested at 2.09 pounds. Soft shell designs are on average a bit lighter than hard shell protectors, but two pounds is pretty light!

Revolutionary? Advanced? I dunno. I appreciate Jim Evans standing in front of a 90mph fastball, but I have seen 90+ mph fastballs bounce off hardshell protectors many times (and worn them myself). I am intrigued by the Unequal's thin, low profile design. For reference, the Douglas and the Schutt are a mere one inch thick.

Pete

[sdix00]

That's all well and good, but it looks like the real innovation was the pecker protector he was wearing. Never seen one of those before. Should make me popular around the ball park.

[hckyosgood30]

steve, it was a hockey goalie cup.... not revolutionary just big!

[Thunderheads]

Very interesting. What doesn't make sense to me is Kevlar doesn't stop/prevent impact, it's designed to "catch" a bullet. It's not going to absorb the impact you receive. Still, very interesting

[Thunderheads]

FOUND THIS ....interesting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOd8fWh1Ko8

[johnnyg08]

I am intrigued by the Unequal's thin, low profile design. For reference, the Douglas and the Schutt are a mere one inch thick.

Unless I heard wrong, he's not going after better protection, but maybe the same protection as the WV or other quality CP's with a lower profile.

This has been a long time coming. I've thought for years about why they don't use something similar to what stops bullets. For years I suppose it's been cost prohibitive. Bullet Resistant vests are expensive.

[johnnyg08]

Very interesting. What doesn't make sense to me is Kevlar doesn't stop/prevent impact, it's designed to "catch" a bullet. It's not going to absorb the impact you receive. Still, very interesting

It catches a bullet by spreading out the force of the bullet.

[Thunderheads]

Very interesting. What doesn't make sense to me is Kevlar doesn't stop/prevent impact, it's designed to "catch" a bullet. It's not going to absorb the impact you receive. Still, very interesting

It catches a bullet by spreading out the force of the bullet.

I understand what it does, but have you every talked with a police officer whos taken a bullett? They don't just stand there like Evans did. They go down, get knocked out, ...and are bruised HEAVILY.

That said, .... I posted a video that explains what they've done.... HHhmmmmm

[sdix00]

LOVED the way the protector looked under Dave Soucy's red shirt. It took a second to notice it. VERY indiscrete.

I don't understand why they don't show a chest or sternum shot.

[Thunderheads]

LOVED the way the protector looked under Dave Soucy's red shirt. It took a second to notice it. VERY indiscrete.

I don't understand why they don't show a chest or sternum shot.

Didnt' Evans take one on the left boob ?? that's pretty impressive

[noumpere]

Isnt this somewhat similar to the Honigs protectr -- K1 or smething? It had foam on the outside and plates of some sort on the inside while the wilsons have the plates on the outside and the foam on the inside. I dont know which would really be better given the same types of materials or if it makes a difference.

[sdix00]

LOVED the way the protector looked under Dave Soucy's red shirt. It took a second to notice it. VERY indiscrete.

I don't understand why they don't show a chest or sternum shot.

Didnt' Evans take one on the left boob ?? that's pretty impressive

Maybe he did. I saw two shots - one square to the right shoulder cap, and I thought the second clipped him toward the side of his left chest. Maybe it did get his booby.

[kylejt]

This might be a great idea to have under a large plastic, or carbonfiber plate. But right now, I don't believe the hype. Those individual pieces are too small to disperse much energy. I'm guessing this will go the way of the Davishield. Good ideas, but a bad overall design.

[Kevin Finnerty]

As far back as when Eric Dickerson played for the Rams, he was using something almost identical to what Evans donned in that video. He injured his ribs, and turned to that contraption for added rib protection. I remember a member of the team's personnel demonstrating it on a news report by having a guy take to his ribs with a bat to show its resiliency.

I'd I'll bet the price is going to be exorbitant.

[GerryB]

Having used some of the older +POS chest protectors with the plastic stays in each cell, I'm concerned about "closed cell" design. Each cell may be fine, but there always is that ball that hits squarely between the cells - on the seam. Ouch! For now, I'm with kylejt.

[Third Out]

Does this exist commercially yet?

[Kevin Finnerty]

Having used some of the older +POS chest protectors with the plastic stays in each cell, I'm concerned about "closed cell" design. Each cell may be fine, but there always is that ball that hits squarely between the cells - on the seam. Ouch! For now, I'm with kylejt.

So am I.

I had the experience of having a 97 m.p.h. Gerrit Cole pitch fouled into my collarbone while wearing my Douglas. It found the gap between the clavicle plate and the shoulder cap and mashed the edges of each plate into my shoulder bone. After my eyes cleared and I wiped the snot off my goatee (it was like a good football hit), I was good to go. (Except for the part where I had to raise my arm to make strike calls.) The bump that I acquired from that late-2009 blow still exists. But it proved to me how important gap protection is in a chest protector, and that rigs like the Douglas are not safe when pitchers are throwing high-80s or above. I use it at 85 and under. Otherwise, I use the Gold and its thick pads and outstanding gap coverage.

[boyinr]

The interesting thing is there is nothing about this on the www.umpire.org site or in the JEAPU site at all. Seems like a flaw in the marketing plan that they wouldn't introduce this first on their own site. I too wonder what this will cost.

[boyinr]

The interesting thing is there is nothing about this on the www.umpire.org site or in the JEAPU site at all. Seems like a flaw in the marketing plan that they wouldn't introduce this first on their own site. I too wonder what this will cost. I like the low profile of this but I wonder about the physics on it. I had a couple of CPs that used the internal plate design. While I never got hurt I will say that I felt each hit. I will only wear a hard shell from now on regardless of the level.

[Maineac]

Very interesting. What doesn't make sense to me is Kevlar doesn't stop/prevent impact, it's designed to "catch" a bullet. It's not going to absorb the impact you receive. Still, very interesting

It catches a bullet by spreading out the force of the bullet.

I understand what it does, but have you every talked with a police officer whos taken a bullett? They don't just stand there like Evans did. They go down, get knocked out, ...and are bruised HEAVILY.

That said, .... I posted a video that explains what they've done.... HHhmmmmm

It's true that catching a bullet causes one to go down and have heavy bruising (which still beats the hell out of the alternative). It's been described as "catching a sledgehammer in the chest." But in my opinion one thing to consider here is velocity. The baseballs Jim Evans took the hits from were traveling at 90 mph, or 132 feet per second. A 9 mm bullet, for example, leaves the muzzle at approximately 1200 feet per second, or roughly 820 mph if my math is correct. Another factor affecting the prototype's effectiveness may be the size of the projectile (larger projectile moving at a lower velocity). The smaller projectile (bullet) traveling at the much higher velocity transmits a lot more force through the Kevlar, resulting in more trauma/bruising, and possibly broken ribs.

Another question I would have is about the angle of the hit. All the hits in the provided video explaining the theory of the protector are along the Y axis, or perpendicular. The force then gets spread out along the X and Z axes. But how many times have you taken a shot that is exactly perpendicular? Most are at an oblique angle. I wonder how this rig would handle those, although the second shot Jim Evans took in the video didn't seem to be a problem for him. Interesting to see if this can truly be protective enough and cost effective enough to make it feasible. As has already been mentioned, bullet-resistant Kevlar vests are not cheap.

[Umpire in Chief]

Very interesting. Giving it larger plates in my theory would provide better protection. But the physics behind the material look good. And I agree I'd love to have a lower profile CP with excellent protection and the video also mentioned it was cooler too.

[Kevin Finnerty]

The interesting thing is there is nothing about this on the www.umpire.org site or in the JEAPU site at all. Seems like a flaw in the marketing plan that they wouldn't introduce this first on their own site. I too wonder what this will cost.

Everything Jim Evans has ever touched has been overpriced.