Thayer added a forehead pad and chin rest to his design of the catcher's mask to help absorb the impact of the ball.

Image courtesy National Baseball Hall of Fame Library 1878: Fred Thayer, captain of Harvard University's baseball team, receives a patent for his inspired invention, the catcher's mask.

Getting hit in the face with a baseball is always an unpleasant experience. Only a complete idiot would willingly squat behind home plate to catch live pitching, with a live batter, without wearing a mask – and a chest protector, shin guards and, yes, a cup. But when the game was in its infancy and pitchers didn't throw 100 mph, that's exactly what the catchers did.

Maybe there were no Randy Johnsons back then, but it was still dangerous. The curveball was becoming popular, and some catchers had trouble handling the new pitch. And Thayer couldn't help but noticing that guys became a little tentative behind the dish after getting clocked by a few foul tips. When Harvard's promising new receiver, James Tyng, started acting head-shy, Thayer began looking for ways to fix things.

Taking his inspiration from the fencing mask, Thayer designed a mask that added a forehead pad and chin rest to help absorb the impact of the ball. He also replaced the fine wire mesh of the fencing mask with a "birdcage" face protector that improved visibility.

Thayer and Tyng experimented with the catcher's mask away from the diamond, before Tyng finally used it in a regular-season game on April 12, 1877. It was, pardon the pun, a hit. Gushed the Harvard Crimson:

(T)he new mask was proved a complete success, since it entirely protects the face and head and adds greatly to the confidence of the catcher, who need not feel that he is every moment in danger of a lifelong injury. To the ingenious inventor of this mask we are largely indebted for the excellent playing of our new catcher, who promises to excel the fine playing of those who have previously held this position.Tyng originally wore the mask only on a two-strike count, when catching the third strike cleanly was necessary to record the out. But he soon saw the advantage of wearing it all the time, and nobody argued with him.

Word of Thayer's invention spread quickly throughout the baseball world, and soon even major league catchers had adopted it. A.G. Spalding and Brothers, a sporting-goods company, began selling "Thayer's Patent Harvard Catcher's Mask" for $3 (that's $58 in today's money).

Thayer's original is on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

(Source: baseballasamerica.org)

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