MLB Umpire Suffers Concussion Wearing Shock FX Umpire Helmet

I am always preaching about the additional safety of umpire helmets as opposed to traditional style umpire masks. MLB Umpire Ed Hickox's recent blow to his Shock FX proves there is no such thing as head gear that protects entirely or is indestructible.

Did this helmet protect him more than if he had been wearing something else? Should you not purchase the Shock FX considering it cracked and he was concussed? Read my 2 posts at umpire.org on the discussion of what happened in the Indians-Yankees game on Saturday April 18th. (Article Here).

Post 1

I looked high and low for a video clip and could find nothing. Then I realized I had just signed up for an MLB.TV subscription and was able to locate the inning it happened although there's no way to provide a link. So, I'll provide as a good of a description as I can.

MLB Umpire Ed Hickox was hit in the absolutely worst place on any mask. It was dead center right at the forehead. The shot knocked him backwards a little. He staggered but did not fall. It's very difficult to see on the video if it actually hit the topmost bar of the cage and deflected off the shell or it hit shell only.

The ball was deflected up from a foul ball and the trajectory happened in such a way that it actually pulled his helmet up and back about a third of the way off of him. So this was a good thing as not all 2,400 lbs of force I believe it is from a fastball went directly to his head.

The ball also either deflected straight up in the air or back toward the screen. That helmet does have some curvature there, more than a traditional mask, but not as much of an angle as the sides of the helmet.

It appeared either the cage or shell cracked. If it hit the cage, I'm not sure how much he benefited from the shock absorbers because the trajectory came up an angle of 20-30 degrees instead of the cage being pushed directly in.

He seemed fine pretty quickly smiling, laughing and re-entering the game after getting a new helmet... a direct contrast to MLB Umpire Kerwin Danley's hit last year where he was left lying on the ground. But apparently Hickox became light headed 2 innings later, was replaced, spent the night in a hospital and will be out for a week.

Post 2

The truth of the matter is there is no such thing as an indestructible mask or one that prevents all concussions.

It is rare to have any mask bend, or helmet crack but it happens. Manufacturers such as Wilson and Diamond will perform anvil tests and ball tests to insure the integrity of their masks, but they'll not admit that bending of a frame or cracking of a helmet is not impossible.

I think I've heard at least one story of every type of mask from the Wilson dyna-lite (2 cases), Wilson titanium (1 case on this forum, 1 from customer) or Diamond Featherweight (heard about, not seen) and now the Shock FX (Hickox and 1 case from a customer where it cracked at the shock absorber).

So if your logic is not to wear something you've heard about bending or other, then you're going to be left with very few choices.

Also, whether you are an umpire or let's say a football player as an analogy, it's rare to sustain a concussion (although it seems to be happening quite a bit too often at the MLB level), but there is a risk by nature of the profession. It doesn't mean necessarily that the type of umpire or football helmet used is faulty.

When I spoke with Kerwin Danley in January, he said there was nothing wrong with the mask he was using (A3009X Dyna Lite Wilson), that in his words "it was just one of those things". I would suspect Ed Hickox would say the same thing, assuming he saw it on replay. In my opinion, his hit looked much more violent than Danley's, especially given the placement of the hit.

In my opinion, the fact that Hickox fared much better given the more violent nature might be a testament to his Shock FX despite it cracking. I can't say that for sure, but I'm sure in time we'll hear his thoughts on it.