What We Know About Mask Safety is Relative

I recently commented on Pete Reiser's Midwest Umpire Blog article on umpire concussions. In the article, Pete discusses his frustration on not having objective safety information on umpire masks.

Here is what I had to say:

Regarding the manufacturers of umpire masks, the type of testing they do is more for durability; tests such as anvil testing and ball impact testing. The manufacturers are going to want to make sure their mask frame is not going to bend, break or crack with stress.

Regarding NOCSAE certification, there is no NOCSAE reviews for any helmet without an earflap. So the only thing you're going to see a NOCSAE stamp on for umpires are hockey style helmets.

Optimal would be to design a rating for each mask in terms of impact reduction. Weight and height are easy, but wouldn't it be nice to know let's say that one mask had a certain impact reduction rating and another was higher?

There are 2 problems with that. One is that there is no standard testing from which manufacturers can work. The other is that there are areas of the mask that are going to take more force where hit than others. It is this main reason why the Kettering study you mentioned was flawed (they compared a flatter area on one vs a more rounded on another).

What we do know about umpire masks and their safety is relative.

• We know that a mask with more padding is going to be more protective than one that has less.
• We know a mask frame that is more curved is going to deflect more force than one that is lower or flatter.
  
• We know a hockey style helmet protects more of the head than a traditional style mask.

And we also know that there are risks inherent in umpiring just as there are in other sports (e.g. football, racing) and professions (e.g. firefighters, construction workers) that can't be prevented, but can only be minimized.

And to minimize the risk, you currently have only the relative information and anecdotal evidence from other umpires but no precise, objective analysis.

I would love to hear your comments on this important subject.

Staff Feature: Sherry Spalding

Sherry has been our marketing assistant and community relations liaison for the past 5 months.

Her upbeat personality combined with her 20+ years of corporate experience in various roles working for the likes of UPS and Yum Brands makes her a great addition to the Ump-Attire.com team.

She is a Kentucky native through-and-through, living in the Louisville area for over 30 years and gaining her bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Kentucky. She is also an avid Kentucky basketball and football fan! "Go C-A-T-S!" she says to add to this feature.

In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and son. They enjoy hiking, riding their Harley and boating on Lake Cumberland.

Sherry has been a great help to me in lightening my everyday responsibilities and in carrying out our marketing plan. I kid her from time-to-time that she has helped us grow so much that she has done enough and is no longer needed. On the contrary, I hope Sherry will be with us for a long, long time.

2009 Lacrosse Selection Reveals More Items

We are in the 2nd year of a 3-year plan of sorts with our lacrosse referee selection. Last year, we added some basic lacrosse items such as socks, score cards and warning cards to our base set of football/lacrosse referee shirts, shorts, caps and whistles.

This year, we wanted to up the ante with even more items. Some key lacrosse referee only items we've added include:

• 20/100 Lacrosse Timer
  Dual digital with two preset timer settings
  
  
• Women's Ultimate Referee Shirt
  Women's cut and sizes with collar
  
  
• Richardson Black Visor
  Cotton twill fabric with adjustable closure
  
  
• 6' Lacrosse Referee Tape Measure
  Slimline design fits easily in pocket
  
  
• Rain Pants
  Water and wind resistant high-quality flat Taslan nylon shell
  
  
• Thorlos Mini-Crew Socks
  Black and White
  

In addition, we added many new items in the fall primarily for football officials that lacrosse officials should find to their liking:

• The Ultimate Long Sleeve Referee Shirt
• New Balance Field Shoes
• Ball Center Flags (White or black ball to better blend with your shorts or knickers)
• Reversible Referee Jacket
• Mueller Thigh Support and Shin Support
  

View All New Products for Lacrosse Here | All Lacrosse Referee Gear

Look out for more lacrosse referee items in 2010 when we hope to bring an even more complete array of products.

UMPS CARE MLB Ticket Experiences Available

UMPS CARE Charities is currently auctioning 4 MLB Ticket Experiences highlighted by a once-in-a lifetime first ever game at New York Mets' new Citi Field.

This experience also includes (1) souvenir baseball signed and dated by the game day umpiring crew. The current bid on this item is only $500 for good seats. Seats on StubHub are currently $277 each. Ok, this is a steal. If you live in the New York area or can easily get there, at that price, how could you pass it up?

2 experiences include not just game day tickets in Boston and Cincinnati, but also the opportunity to attend a hospital event in one of those cities with MLB umpires as well. Good stuff.

The final experience and auction item includes tickets plus a VIP batting practice experience with the Florida Marlins.

Bid on the sports auction items here for yourself and at the same time help enrich the lives of at-risk youth and children coping with serious illness. Hurry, the auction ends March 25th.

Take Survey on Shopping with Competitors

While our research shows that many have recently switched from shopping with one of our competitors to shopping with us, some continue to shop elsewhere. We want to know why. What are we missing?

Are you one of those people who continue to predominantly get your gear and apparel elsewhere? If so, your opinion is very important to us. Tell us which one received most of your business and what they had to offer that we didn't. Your answers to our 2 questions will help us see areas where we can improve.

Take the survey >

New Ultimate Umpire Shirt Ranked #1

Pete Reiser, writer of the Midwest Ump Blog, set out to tackle a daunting task: to review umpire shirt brands in a Consumer Reports type article. In order to complete the article, he had every manufacturer send him a sample to use.

In all, 7 shirts were reviewed including our new Ultimate Umpire Shirt that is made of a wrinkle-resistant, no-pick fabric and will be available within a few weeks as well as Smitty and Dalco brand umpire shirts, two that we retail.

ULTIMATE UMPIRE SHIRTS RANKED #1
So, who had the highest ranking? We did.

I'm not surprised. Although it's not my style to be cocky, my confidence stems from having looked at all of these shirts - that Mr. Reiser eventually reviewed - for the purpose of designing a better umpire shirt. So we know those shirts well and anything less than a #1 ranking would have been disappointing.

So, what did the article say about our Ultimate Umpire Shirt? Here are some excerpts:

"This is definitely a quality shirt that was designed with care and attention to appeal to umpires across the board."

"The shirt looks great and performed best in the wrinkle test."

(The shirt is at) a competitive price ($32.95) with Cliff Keen and Honig’s for a nicer shirt."

REVIEW OF THE REVIEW
Overall, I was impressed with Pete's thoroughness of the review. No one, to my knowledge, has taken the time to synthesize the data and present the conclusions to others in such a detailed manner.

Within the review itself, there were 7 categories. Within these categories, each shirt received a rank. Higher ranks received inversely more points. For example, 1st in a category resulted in 7 points (2nd - 6 points,... worst - 1 point). Using this system, the one with the highest number of cumulative points ranked the highest overall.

The Ultimate Umpire Shirt received the highest score of 37. Fantastic!

I was excited to see that two of the categories of testing included a wrinkle test and a prick test. Besides comfort and a professional no-holes appearance with moisture management properties, the Ultimate Umpire Shirt was engineered to be wrinkle-resistant and to not prick (or pill).

I was certainly satisfied with our #1 rank on the wrinkle test and #2 rank on the prick test.

If there was any disappointment in the review, it was that we didn't receive higher marks in some areas. Some lower scores, however, have some logic to them.

• The construction rank of #3 honestly isn't too bad considering the sample provided was our first prototype in that design. The Ultimate Umpire Shirts will definitely be constructed with the same expected, high standards as our line of Ultimate Referee Shirts.
  
  
• I say "not bad" to the value rank of #4 considering that our umpire shirt was not intended to be a "value" shirt but a premium one geared for more experienced umpires who demand the highest in quality.

HIGH SMITTY AND LOW DALCO RANKINGS
I was not surprised at all by Smitty being ranked the 2nd highest. Smitty makes quality apparel in all sports, and we would not carry their items if otherwise. Of its rankings, it was the highest in value. I completely agree with that.

For us as a retailer, this is perfect. We have the best overall umpire shirt on the market in the new premium Ultimate Umpire Shirt, and we have the best value umpire shirt in the Smitty Umpire Shirt.

I am, however, somewhat surprised that Dalco received such low rankings, especially considering its high popularity and marks with our customers - so high it is one of our Customers' Choice products.

More specifically, it ranked worst in the prick test and construction. As I reflect, I can't recall one Dalco shirt being returned for any construction deficiencies or unusual wear-and-tear issues. I do concur, however, that the Dalco shirt does not score well as it relates to wrinkles out of the bag. This likely affected its appearance rating and both the wrinkle and appearance ratings, in turn, contributed to a lower value rating.

SUMMARY
Thanks Pete for the review and time you put in it. We are, of course, happy with the results, and we hope to have the new Ultimate Umpire Shirt in navy and powder blue available by the end of March with additional colors arriving at a later date.

Read the complete review.

In Online Website Traffic, We're Ranked #1

Alexa.com and Compete.com have ranked us as the #1 officiating gear shopping website in the category of website visitors... more than Honigs.com... more than GerryDavis.com or anybody else for that matter.

Both analytic sites use technology similar to Nielsen ratings for television to determine their rankings. Their findings are highlighted below:

• Alexa.com: Ranked us #1 for each of the last 8 months
• Compete.com: Ranked us #1 for last month (February 2009)
• Compete.com: Most traffic overall for last 6 months