Jump to content

Jim Wolf's Mask


sd181612
Umpire-Empire locks topics which have not been active in the last year. The thread you are viewing hasn't been active in 2834 days so you will not be able to post. We do recommend you starting a new topic to find out what's new in the world of umpiring.

Recommended Posts

I was wondering if you guys and girls out there could help me out in figuring out Wolf's mask. I know it's a Nike ti but in the picture the frame looks a little wide at the edges. He's my favorite umpire and he wears one of the greatest masks around.

image.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote

I was wondering if you guys and girls out there could help me out in figuring out Wolf's mask.

 

It's an implied question:

 

Can you help me figure out his mask configuration?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is, as you even said, a Nike Titanium.

Those are blacked-out Team Wendy pads, more than likely.

Keep in mind that Nike masks, both Titanium and Steel, are made in exceedingly small batches, perhaps maybe no more than a dozen at a time. I would even venture that they are perhaps done by hand or at least a small niche shop. The planform used (the geometric blueprint) is likely fairly "organic", in that the metal-crafter has a degree of latitude that a production machine doesn't entertain. I have two Nike Steel masks, and while you look at them individually, there's no doubt they are Nikes... but if you hold them up side by side, they don't look identical. The Steels bend "easier" than the Titaniums, certainly, but Wolf may have requested his Titanium to be broader and shallower than another one, or the one he was issued just happened to be broader and shallower than the majority of the rest, and he kept it.

That's a Wilson throat guard he has attached over the extended chin guard.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The wires are solid, but if you notice, they're flattened or faceted. This mask is very likely aluminum, as China has a plethora of aluminum as a resource. The low PPU also suggests it's not a more "exotic" metal, such as magnesium alloy. It might be steel, but again, my guess is aluminum.

The planform is quite similar to the Nike masks, but that narrower chin guard is much more similar to the +POS ZRO-G. My guess would be that the manufacturing conglomerate that executes +POS's masks has either shopped or shared out the planform and another plant is doing it, or they themselves are doing it. The Chinese have next to no scruples about copying designs, blueprints and planforms. That titanium one @kylejt pointed out very likely is titanium, but it is using a planform from several years ago – it actually smacks of an older +POS mask called the BB69: http://www.pluspos.com/baseball-umpire-equipment/umpire-masks/bb69 .

If someone was motivated on getting titanium masks produced to the same spec as the Nike Titanium, and willing to sacrifice a Steel or Titanium to be the carved up and used as the template, there is more than likely a Chinese manufacturer that will produce  the masks for you. As you can see, 300 units is likely a minimum quantity run.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...