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Indians third baseman Juan Uribe was carted off the field after a Mike Trout grounder bounced up and hit him square in the balls....

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/16156 ... -contusion

You can't blame the guy in the shades for the smirk....



lb13

I was wondering if MLB players still wear cups these days. I found this 3-year-old article about it.

Estonut wrote:I was wondering if MLB players still wear cups these days. I found this 3-year-old article about it.

I was surprised at how often even youngsters don't wear them, unless required. When Son-Of-Spiff was playing HS lacrosse (goalie), we discovered that only the goalie is required to wear a cup. We discovered this when he got a penalty for mouthing off to an official (something I dealt with later on), and the backup, normally a field player, had to stop to put in a cup (delaying things about five minutes).

OTOH, that can cause a humorous moment (unlike the picture). When S-o-S was a hockey goalie (yes, he likes to be a target), one time the cup actually snuck out of the strap and slid down his leg onto the ice during a mad scramble. One kid shot it into the goal, did his celebratory dance for scoring a goal, and wondered why everyone was skating the other way. When he looked into the goal, you could see his face turn several shades of red!

In his book The Dark Side of the Game, Tim Hunt talks about moving up to the NFL and giving up a lot of protective equipment searching for a competitive advantage.

Estonut wrote:I was wondering if MLB players still wear cups these days. I found this 3-year-old article about it.

I was going to bring up the Manzanillo incident, but I see it made the article...

I remember being at a game where home plate umpire Ed Rapuano got racked by a foul tip that hit off the ground and deflected right up into the jewels. He didn't leave, but needed a LOT of time to recover. That makes me wonder if umps bother to wear cups on the field...

lb13

littlebeast13 wrote:

Estonut wrote:I was wondering if MLB players still wear cups these days. I found this 3-year-old article about it.

I was going to bring up the Manzanillo incident, but I see it made the article...

I remember being at a game where home plate umpire Ed Rapuano got racked by a foul tip that hit off the ground and deflected right up into the jewels. He didn't leave, but needed a LOT of time to recover. That makes me wonder if umps bother to wear cups on the field...

lb13

That's where I think anyone should nave a cup - behind home plate.

Or maybe he needs Stanley s cup..
https://youtu.be/6KQ5lX-vH8Y
.

Carlton "Pudge" Fisk, one-time catcher for the Red Sox, seemed to get hit there several times a year by foul tips. During one particularly bad year, the phone in the press box started ringing while Fisk was still writhing on the ground. One of the reporters said "That's Linda Fisk announcing Carlton's retirement from baseball."

Not the same sport, but .....

Dallas Cowboys running back Darren McFadden, who has been injury prone in the past, broke his elbow while trying to catch his I-phone that he dropped (hope they're not counting on him to catch too many balls out of the backfield). He underwent surgery today. He might miss the season opener against the New York Giants (who can use all the breaks they can get).

http://espn.go.com/dallas/nfl/story/_/i ... oken-elbow

silverscreenselect wrote:Not the same sport, but .....

Dallas Cowboys running back Darren McFadden, who has been injury prone in the past, broke his elbow while trying to catch his I-phone that he dropped (hope they're not counting on him to catch too many balls out of the backfield). He underwent surgery today. He might miss the season opener against the New York Giants (who can use all the breaks they can get).

http://espn.go.com/dallas/nfl/story/_/i ... oken-elbow

Bull. He probably hurt it during a "prohibited activity" (e.g. a pickup basketball game.)

I will pretty much guarantee that MLB umpires wear cups. I will also pretty much guarantee that if a foul ball catches you at the right angle, it doesn't matter one tiny testicle if you're wearing one or not.

In youth baseball, only the catcher is required to wear a cup, but all the others are encouraged to. When I greeted each team's catcher at the beginning of the game, I would ask him if he had his cup on. If he said no, we didn't start the game until he did, or the coach found someone who did. Embarrassing, but necessary. In high school ball, that is supposedly taken care of by the pre-game meeting obligatory question, "Are all your players legally and properly equipped?" But if saw a catcher I didn't know or who still looked pretty green, I would still ask him. Nobody thinks it's ever going to happen to him. Until it does.

With the improvements in umpire protective gear, I"m a little surprised that this tender area hasn't really been addressed very well. There have been a few improvements, but not enough, obviously.