Ed Hickox shock helmet cracked

[AllanA]

Di d anyone see the Indians/Yankee game on 4/18/2009. Ed Hickox got hit by a foul ball to the top of his bucket and it CRACKED! I am a traditional mask wearer. Thats just scares me about the buckets. One shot an its time for a new bucket....ouch!

Allan

[BrianC14]

My understanding was that it got him right in the cage...

Anyway, here's an update:

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/story/11649471

[MCLEOD36]

I still like their (hockey masks) protection the best, most balls will glance off them, making a direct hit very difficult, unlike the traditional masks. It is funny though, having to remove the ball marks on it and then remembering each clobbering that I received.

[LMSANS]

Di d anyone see the Indians/Yankee game on 4/18/2009. Ed Hickox got hit by a foul ball to the top of his bucket and it CRACKED! I am a traditional mask wearer. Thats just scares me about the buckets. One shot an its time for a new bucket....ouch!

Allan

Can you imagine if he didn't have that piece of plastic to protect his head?

[AllanA]

Well if he was set up properly that foul ball should have never hit him on top of the head!!!! I say on TV when it happened and he was leaning forward alil more than usual. But the way he was setup, its good he did have a bucket!!

Allan

[BrianC14]

Well if he was set up properly that foul ball should have never hit him on top of the head!!!! I say on TV when it happened and he was leaning forward alil more than usual. But the way he was setup, its good he did have a bucket!!

Allan

I don't think it hit the TOP of the helmet... that would imply that he was looking down... ?

Jim Kirk of www.ump-attire.com explained this over at the ABUA forum - - he'd seen it on MLB-TV.

http://umpire.org/vb/showthread.php?t=7283

from what I read in Jim's post, the trajectory of the ball was up, and it hit just at the top of the cage, where the cage is bolted in to the shell. He couldn't tell if the cage broke or the shell (Helmet) broke. Based on Jim's view of it, the HSM was lifted up and back on Hickox' head... ouch!

... a video would be interesting to see...

Edited April 20, 2009 by BrianC14

[AllanA]

Hey Brian,

It didn't hit the north pole of the mask. From what I saw it hit just above the wire at the forehead. He was leaning over a bit so the trajectory of the ball angle went up off the bat to the "top" part of the mask above the wire cage. When they were looking at the mask, they were not looking at the wire cage.

They were looking at the plastic "top" part. I hope this is a lil clearer. That is just what I saw on limited replays. I could have not seen it clearly.

Sorry,

Allan

Edited April 21, 2009 by AllanA

[BrianC14]

Hey Brian,

It didn't hit the north pole of the mask. From what I saw it hit just above the wire at the forehead. He was leaning over a bit so the trajectory of the ball angle went up off the bat to the "top" part of the mask above the wire cage. When they were looking at the mask, they were not looking at the wire cage.

They were looking at the plastic "top" part. I hope this is a lil clearer. That is just what I saw on limited replays. I could have not seen it clearly.

Sorry,

Allan

Allan,

That's more in line with what Jim Kirk was explaining at the ABUA site.... so basically it hit him right in the forehead area... did it look like the plastic shell broke? What a clobbering that must have been!

Man - the guy's got a concussion, and he worked for nearly 2 more innings.... :wave:

Edited April 21, 2009 by BrianC14

[AllanA]

Brian,

Yep From the rumors and what they were looking at it did crack.

He is lucky he didn't take another shot after that one. He could have been in real trouble. Head trauma (sp) is nothing to play with. I had a friend working a JV game last night and he too two shots to the mask in the same place.

He said the bar bent that you could almost fit a baseball between them. He is ordering another frame today. That just the hazards of this profession.

Allan

[JimKirk]

He is lucky he didn't take another shot after that one. He could have been in real trouble. Head trauma (sp) is nothing to play with... That just the hazards of this profession.

Allan

Some really great comments guys. But you are very very right Allan. With a shot like that, I think it should be made precautionary to go ahead and sit it out. I suspect there will be some things come out of this in that regard.

Maybe you guys at your level can now be aware if one of your partners is shaken by a hit or other that you be wise enough to say "You know what. Let's play it safe. You sit this out the rest of the way. This is not that important in the whole scheme of things". Because you know the inclination is for guys to say, as it was in Ed Hickox case, "I'm fine. I can handle it."

[BrianC14]

Brian,

Yep From the rumors and what they were looking at it did crack.

He is lucky he didn't take another shot after that one. He could have been in real trouble. Head trauma (sp) is nothing to play with. I had a friend working a JV game last night and he too two shots to the mask in the same place.

He said the bar bent that you could almost fit a baseball between them. He is ordering another frame today. That just the hazards of this profession.

Allan

I think he borrowed an HSM after the initial shot broke his, so his broken HSM wasn't a concern, but as Jim has said, taking a moment to ensure someone's not loopy is the safest route to take, and even then, it's probably best to remove yourself and get properly checked out.

[kylejt]

The initial blow won't be that telling. I've finished games after a concussion, and it wasn't until getting home that I knew something was really wrong. I'm just lucky I didn't take a second shot. Damn lucky.