Baseball Sunglasses
Baseball Sunglasses
Choosing Baseball Sunglasses
Baseball sunglasses are often one of the most forgotten pieces of baseball equipment. When someone thinks about baseball equipment they normally think of cleats, a bat, gloves, pants, etc. However, sunglasses are one of the most important pieces necessary for peak athletic performance. Whether you are in the outfield or are up to bat, wearing sunglasses to protect your eyes and increase performance is very important to one of America’s oldest pastimes.
The most important sense in baseball is eyesight. Wearing proper sunglasses will protect your eyes from long term and short term injuries. There are many instances during a baseball game where you would potentially have to look almost directly at the sun. Doing this regularly is terrible for your eyesight. Wearing sunglasses will greatly minimize the chances of an injury.
If you are baseball player yourself, you have probably lost the ball in the sun hundreds of times. Wearing proper sunglasses will minimize the amount of time you will have lost the ball which can potentially change the whole fate of the game. It is important to actually wear your sunglasses during the whole course of the game when you are on the field instead of leaving them on your hat.
While sunglasses are important for many players, not every player likes to wear them. This is because low quality sunglasses can potentially hinder athletic performance during play. Low quality sunglasses can negatively affect depth perception and light refraction. These are very important components to a pitcher because of how accurate the pitch needs to be. Anything that can slightly change visual conditions for a pitcher can be a disadvantage on the baseball field.
A pitcher is free to wear the sunglasses if they choose to do so as long as the sunglasses do not have a visible glare to the umpire. While it is rare, there are a few pitchers throughout MLB history who used sunglasses. Although they may not be very important to pitchers, we must stress how important sunglasses are to the fielders. The majority of balls hit to outfielders are high up in the sky causing them to look towards the sun more frequently. If they blinded by the bright sunlight, not only is it damaging to their eyes, but they also may be struck by the falling ball. If you are an infielder, you may also want to consider wearing sunglasses as you must have very quick reaction times and if there is any sort of glare from the sun this could significantly hinder performance and possibly cause you to miss the ball and affect the outcome of the game. When milliseconds matter, keeping your eyes protected is extremely important.
Safety is another reason why you may opt to wear sunglasses on the baseball field. Throughout your career you will probably get hit by a few balls. It is much better to be hit in the face if you are wearing sunglasses protecting your eyes versus getting hit without them. This could be the difference between keeping and losing your eyesight. There is also a lot of debris and insects on the field. Now while this may not injure you, keeping your eyes free from foreign material is extremely important for athletic performance, focus, and reaction times.