I just started baseball again for the first time in like 7 years. In the league we play in a indoor field and our managers recommend we wear a protective cup and jockstrap. Before our game my mom asked if I was wearing it and I told her it was still In my bag. And she said she won't let me play unless I'm wearing it. So she told me to tap to show I am. Is she overreacting about me wearing it as a 2nd basemen? She says she doesn't want to see me in a emergency.
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Yes! Sliding shorts with cup I cant imagine why you wouldn't. Nothing like the old jock strap of yesteryears...
Yeah it's just I don't want the sliding shorts sticking out. I was just kind of embarrassed if people saw the jock lines through the baseball pants
I can remember several cup shots both while playing ball and watching my son play. You do not want a shot to the groin. My son as a catcher can take foul balls from foul tips. We call it "ringing the church bells".
Wear it. I havent heard a single parent or spectator talk about lines in a pair of pants.
Years ago I played with a pro SS, who receive a one hop ground ball and the "ringing" was heard 100 yards away. We all wore metal cups. At the end of the inning the SS arrive in the dugout and picked up a bat to hammer the dent from his cup.
Bob
The sliding shorts by under armour are like the kind of underwear that look like super tight shorts and they have a built in pocket for the cup. My son says he doesn't notice it anymore but he would never be caught dead in a jock strap.
As for should you be wearing it....3 years ago the 2B on my sons team went after a hit ball that took a bad hop. It got him right in the crotch, he fell down and had to be carried off the field. That night his parents had to take him to the emergency room because one of his testicles was 3 times the size of the other one. They had to perform surgery to alleviate the pressure, it could have been avoided had he worn a cup. I have also heard of, but not been a witness to, a kid needing surgery to bring back down a testicle that had been hit so hard it went up, again, a cup would have saved him. At JV tryouts this year the 2B took a bad hop and needed help being walked off the field. No surgery needed but still, infield is wide open to these things happening.
Your mom is not over reacting. It might be only 1 in a thousand kids that get hit playing an infield position but she's trying to make sure that if it is you then you won't need surgery.
Baseball419 posted:I just started baseball again for the first time in like 7 years. In the league we play in a indoor field and our managers recommend we wear a protective cup and jockstrap. Before our game my mom asked if I was wearing it and I told her it was still In my bag. And she said she won't let me play unless I'm wearing it. So she told me to tap to show I am. Is she overreacting about me wearing it as a 2nd basemen? She says she doesn't want to see me in a emergency.
Do not step on to any baseball field for practice or game without a cup. We have a prominent member here whose son was a second baseman and was not wearing a cup. Ironically, he was in the on-deck circle when a foul ball hit him in the groin. That young man is now minus one testicle. Hopefully, you'll heed this advice and not question your mother's sound wisdom ever again. You should also be wearing mouth-guard protection as well.
I can't see any reason why you wouldn't, especially infielders should know better to wear one. Only kids I've seen not wearing cups were those playing rec ball.
My 2017 catcher, obviously, wears a cup. His catching instructor TOLD him to get a "nutty buddy" or he pretty much could not work with him. Not quite, but the point was made, He wears over sliders with a jock strap-like support. But he's a catcher. He says it does not feel like baseball without a cup. I've seen MLB clips of pros getting one to the privates and its not fun to try and play it cool on camera...
My son took pitching lessons from Josias Manzanillo, so he never considers even getting close to the field without a cup.
From Wiki:
In 1997, Manzanillo suffered a grisly injury while pitching for the Seattle Mariners. Not wearing a protective cup, he was struck in the groin by a line drive off the bat of Manny Ramírez which ruptured his testicles. Manzanillo managed to recover the baseball, throw out Jim Thome at home plate and jog off the field under his own power before undergoing emergency reconstructive surgery.[1][2]
Another one I think members here may recall with my kid:
I was driving my son who was 16 at the time and his girlfriend back from an away game one day. Not sure why the topic came up, but I asked him if he wore a cup all the time he was on the field, even during practice.
The girlfriend yells out, "You better be!!"
I wasn't sure if I should be happy she was concerned, or concerned that she was concerned.
So guys - wear a cup to keep your ladies happy, I guess.
I quit wearing one when I was 16...played till I was 40, my older son quit wearing one when he was about 15 the younger one quit wearing one at the same time.
As long as you do your job the risk is on you.
ClevelandDad posted:Baseball419 posted:I just started baseball again for the first time in like 7 years. In the league we play in a indoor field and our managers recommend we wear a protective cup and jockstrap. Before our game my mom asked if I was wearing it and I told her it was still In my bag. And she said she won't let me play unless I'm wearing it. So she told me to tap to show I am. Is she overreacting about me wearing it as a 2nd basemen? She says she doesn't want to see me in a emergency.
Do not step on to any baseball field for practice or game without a cup. We have a prominent member here whose son was a second baseman and was not wearing a cup. Ironically, he was in the on-deck circle when a foul ball hit him in the groin. That young man is now minus one testicle. Hopefully, you'll heed this advice and not question your mother's sound wisdom ever again. You should also be wearing mouth-guard protection as well.
Both of my boys wear a cup. We started them in t-ball, now they feel naked without it. My oldest is a catcher, but he wears it regardless of his position on the field. My youngest is a pitcher/middle infielder, and he also doesn't set foot on the field without a cup in place. Every brand of sliding shorts has a pocket for the cup, it's very convenient. It's a shame, but most of the kids in the field refuse to wear them.
As for the mouth guard, not only does it protect your pearlies, but it also might add a couple of mph's to your velocity. I think Kyle Boddy has a blog post from several years back where he showed that wearing a mouth guard did increase your velocity 2-3 mph's. If memory serves, the mouth guard increased fast-twitch muscle movement. So it can protect you and increase your velocity.
old_school posted:I quit wearing one when I was 16...played till I was 40, my older son quit wearing one when he was about 15 the younger one quit wearing one at the same time.
As long as you do your job the risk is on you.
Old_School - I am not trying to be a wise-guy, but I don't understand your post. Most players who wear cups are never hit in the groin. It's possible, however, that the ball can be thrown or hit harder than a person can possibly react. It's insurance in case that does happen.
Anecdotal stories of not being injured does not make the case for not wearing cups. We are talking about the laws of physics and not about whether someone is doing their job. If you are willing to live with the risks imposed by those laws so be it but not sure that is advice we ought to be giving here.
Wearing a cup can be compared to wearing a seat belt. Its a matter of rolling the dice. But once you get a groin shot or accident, its too late to go back and fix it.
Old School- It is really bad advice to let teenagers make their own choice. We know how bullet proof teens feel. IMO
Baseball419 posted:Yeah it's just I don't want the sliding shorts sticking out. I was just kind of embarrassed if people saw the jock lines through the baseball pants
Don't be embarrassed. No one cares if they see jock strap lines. Plus as others have said, you can just wear sliding shorts with a cup pocket. Trust me when I tell you its better then the alternative. When I was in college one of my track teammates came low across a hurdle. Bumped a testical on it. The thing swelled up to the size of a grapefruit. Guess what his nickname became for his remaining time on the team. He had to head to the ER but by then the swelling came down and nothing much else needed to be done. Im pretty sure the impact of bumping against a hurdle is a lot less traumatic then taking a direct hit from a line drive.
Yes Wear IT. I too personally know someone requiring surgery.(Not me). who collided with another player and was not wearing a cup. You can guess the rest.
Oh, and this was in city league softball of all things.
My son wears compression shorts with built in pocket for the cup.
Take a look at this my son likes how they feel.
Compression Shorts with Cup insert
In high school we had a shortstop with the nickname "Fish Bait". In middle school he took a shot to the cherries on a ground ball and had to have the left one removed. Doc said all it was good for from that point forward was fish bait. He should have never shared that with us.
Nearly 40 years later, we still call him Fish Bait.
Wear the cup
Approximately 3-4 years ago, one of my son's minor league teammates (also the son of a HSBBW old timer) was standing around waiting his turn for BP when he took a line drive to the cup area. Let's just say he's now down one.
As a player, I never set foot on a baseball field without wearing a cup.
My son hates the way the cup feels inside the pocket in the sliding shorts. It moves too much for him. He wears both sliding shorts and a jock strap with his cup. It provides a tighter fit and less distraction for him. I have never noticed jock strap lines through baseball pants. I guess it could be an issue if you like the "skinny jean" type of pants, but mostly what I see are pants that are not skin tight.
I really hope you take the majority of advice from this board and wear a cup. Good luck this season!
It amazes me how few high school kids wear cups these days.
Fort Asst. posted:It amazes me how few high school kids wear cups these days.
Which is ironic because they all wore them when they began playing 10 years earlier and had less reason to wear them.
All players, regardless of position, should wear a cup. Yes, that includes the outfielders as well.
When my son was on a travel team, during practice one evening the coach was hitting fly balls, line drives to the outfield. One of the outfielders misplayed a line drive and everyone clearly heard the ball hit his cup. That ended any argument for not wearing a cup for the outfielders.
Another odd story. Travel team is playing a tournament at a 4 field complex. Coach is coaching 3B. From the neighboring field a foul ball hit the coach right on the top of the head. He had a headache for the rest of the day. Made the case for wearing a helmet while coaching.
He used to. He doesn't anymore. It's his genitalia. If it elongates the time frame to becoming a grandfather, I'm OK with that.
