Oven Mitts

[Edgy MD]

I don't like 'em.



I don't like them on behalf of the defense. The extra inch or two extending from your fingertips can get you to the base faster when sliding in headfirst. And while the umps are likely under instruction not to count that extra inch or two and not to consider the batter safe until the spot where his fingertips presumably begin, there's all sorts of ambiguity that invites into the call, and it's probably ambiguity that favors the runner.



I don't like them on behalf of the offense. You need to be able to slow your slide by closing your fingers and grabbing at the base, or even at the dirt, and that certainly seems to be impaired by the mitt. If you need to protect your hand, You should wear traditional sliding gloves, but with plastic armor around the outside of the fingers, like with a knight's gauntlet. Also, why protect one hand and not the other?



I don't like them sartorially. These dashing, strapping athletes look like newborn babies in the maternity ward, forced to wear blue mittens to keep from scratching themselves with their little baby fingernails. Or a goofy kid forced by his mother to wear mittens in not-so-cold temperatures, who has somehow lost one on the way to school.

[Fman99]

Yah, mostly that last point. They are stupid looking.

[kcmets]

Pussification personified - what Clyde Frazier would say, and me too.

[Edgy MD]

Clowning and frowning!

[Edgy MD]

Point Two — "I don't like them on behalf of the offense. You need to be able to slow your slide by closing your fingers and grabbing at the base, or even at the dirt, and that certainly seems to be impaired by the mitt."

[Centerfield]

Edgy, as always, except for when he's arguing with me, is right.



Let's be honest. He's right when he's arguing with me too.

[Ceetar]

I'll trade for less sprained/broken/jammed fingers for sure, as Hunter Pence noted last night. And as Katie Nolan noted...maybe you should make 'em the same color as the dirt so it's not as distinctly off the base.

[nymr83]

Edgy MD wrote: Clowning and frowning!

I almost spit coffee laughing. Thanks

[seawolf17]

I'm not crazy about them either, but honestly, safety first. It's not any worse than the pads these guys are wearing at the plate.

[roger_that]

I like the idea of making any protective equipment adorning bodies on offense must be worn on defense.



Fair is fair.

[Edgy MD]

Well, I've tried to promote alternatives above that promote safety, effectiveness, and fair competition.



Apart from, you know, sliding in feet-first, there are awesome and affordable gloves from the mountain biking world that provide copious armoring for your phalanges and your metacarpals. Adapting the designs for baseball usage could probably provide more safety for James McCann's hamates as well.



https://content.motosport.com/images/items/large/TRO/TRO017H/X001.jpg> [fimg=282]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71QEuJOuNFL._AC_UL1080_.jpg[/fimg]



Augmenting the rubber with plastic (or similarly durable and lightweight) shielding would protect your hands from all sorts of trauma while still allowing you to claw madly at the base and at the clay to arrest your slide. It would make you a more effective baserunner and frankly make you more efficient in hand-to-hand group combat if somebody tries to assault your Capitol.



Sartorially, it's not a contest. Do you want to get with somebody wearing fearsome gauntlets of power like these or some oversliding jackass wearing hot water bottles at the end of his arms?

[MFS62]

What's the next step, allowing the runners to wear those huge "we're #1" Styrofoam fingers they sell in team colors? Those'll allow them to touch the base sooner.

Better yet, have corporate logos on them. Isn't the Nike swoosh supposed to represent speed?

More artificial BS and probably just something they hope they can add to concession sales.

Feh.



Later

[Lefty Specialist]

Edgy MD wrote: Well, I've tried to promote alternatives above that promote safety, effectiveness, and fair competition. Apart from, you know, sliding in feet-first, there are awesome and affordable gloves from the mountain biking world that provide copious armoring for your phalanges and your metacarpals. Adapting the designs for baseball usage could probably provide more safety for James McCann's hamates as well. https://content.motosport.com/images/items/large/TRO/TRO017H/X001.jpg> [fimg=282]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71QEuJOuNFL._AC_UL1080_.jpg[/fimg] Augmenting the rubber with plastic (or similarly durable and lightweight) shielding would protect your hands from all sorts of trauma while still allowing you to claw madly at the base and at the clay to arrest your slide. It would make you a more effective baserunner and frankly make you more efficient in hand-to-hand group combat if somebody tries to assault your Capitol. Sartorially, it's not a contest. Do you want to get with somebody wearing fearsome gauntlets of power like these or some oversliding jackass wearing hot water bottles at the end of his arms?

Put real claws on those puppies and you're all set. No more sliding off the base.

[seawolf17]

Lefty Specialist wrote: Put real claws on those puppies and you're all set. No more sliding off the base.

Plus it'd make bench-clearing brawls AWESOME!

[Edgy MD]

While I think Wolverine gloves would indeed be effective in holding a base without oversliding, I'm going to stop short of advocating for such, for the time being.

[roger_that]

I think they'd look GREAT on fielders, too!

[Edgy MD]

Nimmo just overslid second but grabbed onto it as he flew by and anchored his body in place.



It was on a double. Had he been coming from first, though, he'd've had his kitchen accessories on and slid right over.

[Edgy MD]

Maybe instead of oven mitts, you can get guys to wear giant hulk hands when running the bases.



https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B5GVzuUCEAAjZ4C.jpg>