Clipping:An account of the first catcher's mask
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Date | Monday, December 24, 1888 |
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Text | It was funny how Tyng became a catcher. When Thayer took charge of the team he allotted Tyng (who was a third baseman) to the outfield. Tyng got huffy and resigned. He came back in a few weeks or so and began to catch Ernst in practice. Ernst had a terrible in-shoot that was hard to handle, and to give Tyng more confidence Fred Thayer devised the mask. I remember the first day he wore it. It was at Lynn, where we played the Live Oaks. The crowd there had lots of sport over it and yelled: “Get on to the bird cage!” That mask was a great affair. It was awfully heavy, and was built on a contract. It cost us $12 or $15, and when a fellow put it on he felt as if he was anchored. A strap held it in place about the back of the head and it was padded with hair and leather. George Wright saw there was money in it, and bought the letters patent from Thayer, who invented it more to help out Harvard than with any financial end in view., quoting a reminiscence related to Ren Mulford |
Source | Cleveland Plain Dealer |
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Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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