Matt McBride and the first hockey-style mask

The hockey-style catcher’s mask is common in baseball now but over the weekend, Matt McBride became the first Oakland Athletics player to use it in a game.

It’s not a big deal but as an A’s fan, I have watched the team all my life and I noticed that ever since that style mask became common, none of the catcher had ever used it in a game. It was until this past weekend when McBride got called up and saw some time on the field.

It was weird for me to see it since I was not used to it. I found it interesting that it took this long for one catcher to prefer this than the old style. I better get used to it now.