A baseball cup (also known as a jockstrap or athletic cup) is an undergarment intended to help baseball players’ testicles and groin. This type of protecting cup is built up of light metal or stiff resistance plastic. Typically, it has a flexible side to provide the player with both support and comfort.
Among professional baseball players, most pitchers/catchers wear cups. On the other hand, most outfielders don’t. Pitchers are the closest to a player on the field to a hit ball. They are also the most likely to be in a bad position to field or react to hit-ball due to their follow-through.
Interestingly, an anonymous MLB trainer said that “about 25 percent of infielders don’t wear cups”, either.
Writing in the journal Urology, study authors Joel Michael Sumfest, a pediatric urologist at Geisinger, and Jared Bieniek, a former resident, stated that previously published rates of testicular injury may have been minimized for professional baseball players “among whom cups are rarely used.”
In an accompanying editorial explanation, Douglas A. Canning, chairman of urology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said that the “surprisingly” low use of baseball cups suggested that “We need to work harder in counseling athletes on the value of wearing protection during the game.”
Infielders tend to wear cups more than outfielders
Major League Baseball outfielders don’t wear cups because it limits their range of motion and they don’t get many hard ground balls as infielders do. Being an outfielder doesn’t keep you from spouting off a curve from an opposite-side throwing pitcher and having it bounce back into you.
Just 13 percent of MLB outfielders surveyed stated they wear a protective athletic cup.
Doctors at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa., wanted to learn the prevalence of baseball-related testicular injuries and the use of protective equipment. So they distributed 430 surveys (and got back 331) to players in Major League.
More than 36 percent had witnessed testicular injuries among team members, and 18 percent had experienced them.
Maybe the biggest shock was the impact that injury had on future action: Players whose testicles had been hurt said they were more inclined to wear athletic cups but not dramatically so: 30 percent of those who were injured said they would wear them, just eight percentage points more than all respondents.
I was always an infielder in HS, so wearing cups was second nature to me. I remember a couple of years back, one outfielder tried to make a sliding catch, and the ball ended up hitting him in the testicles. It didn’t occur to me until that moment that outfielders may not wear cups. I messaged my friend who played college ball as an outfielder and asked him if he wore cups when we played together, and he said he never did.
This is why professional pitchers actually wear cups
Depending on how fast the ball moves, the impact could be 2,400 pounds of force. That is not the sort of pressure players want on their groin.
Wearing cups may be irritating, but it can reduce the impact down to 450 pounds – a much more gentle amount of pain that won’t cause severe damage to testicles.
Pitchers get injured every year, many quite seriously. A pitcher is also the only fielder who has to run around an uneven surface when he is fielding the ball. While wearing a cup doesn’t mean that getting hit in the groin will not hurt, it will help protect against serious injury.
Why any pitcher would not use cups is beyond me. It only has to happen once.
Ask Ben Roethlisberger if he thinks helmets are such a bad idea now. They were not a big deal to him when Kellen Winslow Jr got injured in a motorcycle accident. I think that now his position towards them may have changed. The same is with cups.
There are times when an athlete will make decisions to “prove” how tough he is or show off how much of a man he is. Most of the time, it’s just showing how silly he is. Not wearing cups would be one of these dumb decisions.
True accidents often happen in baseball, and we feel bad for the player and his family when they do. It’s essential to ensure that all MLB players wear the appropriate protective gear when they play the game.
Not so long ago, I was in high school in my junior year, and I was catching. There was a runner on first and a fastball in the dirt right in front of me. Somehow that ball fired into the five-hole and hit me square in the cup. The ball rolled back out in front of me, and the runner took off for second and ended up on third because it still hurt so bad I waited in my blocking position. Everyone was screaming at me to get the ball, which was almost at arm’s length, but I was hurting so bad I just laid there.
Why don’t some pro baseball players wear cups?
Since there’s no law concerning this aspect of baseball (either using or not using cups), it is up to the player to choose whether he will sacrifice safety for performance if he decides to wear a baseball cups.
Although it can lessen the pain and harm done to the manhood significantly if cups are worn, some players choose not to wear them. Some would argue that cups or no cups, 90 mph to the nuts will put you down. There isn’t a cup in the world that’s going to stop that.
Some pro baseball players don’t wear cups because they can be restrictive to movements. Those are the same movements that players need to make a living. There is a risk in playing baseball, but they need to be comfortable to achieve peak performance.
Hilarious Juan Uribe joke about not wearing a cup
During the Tribe’s game versus the California Anaheim Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Angels’ center fielder Mike Trout roasted a ball down the third baseline directly at Uribe.
He got hit in the groin, was taken off the field, and was diagnosed with a testicular bruise. MLB.com called it “a lower-body injury.”
When a ball that’s traveling 105 mph hits you, and you’re not wearing a cup, that’s what you can expect.
And what was his answer on why he wasn’t wearing a cup? Well, it was quite interesting.
Do baseball players have to wear cups?
At this moment, wearing baseball cups is not obligatory. MLB currently lets players choose whether they need a cup or not.
MLB does not demand players to wear protective cups as MLB players need the flexibility to perform – luxury cups do not provide. But after a few recent accidents, it was said they’d reconsider it as cups effectively prevent severe damage to the groin.
A baseball player Gary Sanchez suffered a painful accident that compelled the MLB chairmen to reconsider this matter.
Most baseball fans remember Yadier Molina, who got struck by a ball going at 103-mph. On the other hand, Jose Manzanillo got hit by a bat, which basically split his testicles. He even lost one of them during the operation.
Other players that have suffered injuries to the cupless mentality are:
- Valdespin, who chose to wear cups after a pitch hit him in his manhood.
- Carl Crawford, who was hit by a pickoff, was brought to the hospital due to a condition called testicular contusion he developed after taking a hit in his testicles.
- Beltre was hit by a hardball and couldn’t play until the last game of that season. He said that his testicles became swollen and started to look like grapefruits.
What kind of cups do pro baseball players wear?
To protect themselves, players have only a few options:
- Wear a hard cup.
- Wear a soft cup.
- Get faster reflexes.
If they decide on option “3”, they’re on their own. Developing faster reflexes for comebackers is notably tricky. However, if they chose option 1 or 2, they can adequately protect their manhood.
It is pretty much a fact that it is more comfortable for professional baseball players not to wear a baseball cup when pitching, but it is much riskier.
Hard cups are the most frequent protective cups for professional baseball players. A vast majority of infielders will wear one, and all catchers will be sure to have one nearby. It can be worn with a traditional jockstrap or sliding shorts. Most pros prefer a jockstrap, as it grants easier movement.
A soft cup is a bit rarer in professional baseball because they offer less support. However, if they’re uncomfortable wearing a hard cup while pitching, players will often decide on it. They are flexible rubber cups that give on the force, making them less than ideal for line runs, but will still support more than no cup at all.
A baseball cup consists of a waistband (usually elastic) with a supporter pouch for the genitalia and two adjustable straps attached to the base of the pouch and the left and right sides of the waistband at the hip.
You can now get baseball cups produced from ballistic-grade materials
The baseball cup business has thrived in recent years. Players from all over the league are currently wearing these types of cups.
Jeremiah Raber, the founder of Armored Nutshellz, explained that he saw a need for a better baseball cup more than a decade ago while watching a UFC fighter lose a match after the fighter took repeated leg kicks to the crotch.
His use of Kevlar and other ballistic-grade material seems attracted customers from all over the baseball world. He currently works with the Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Angels, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, Tampa Baya Rays, and Texas Rangers.
And then there’s competition. Shock Doctor improved ergonomic progress with a rounded, banana-shaped cup. Diamond MMA also touts a design the favors comfort, and NuttyBuddy promotes its anatomically-correct form.
Whatever cups are used need to be worn correctly to be useful, and most companies sell compression shorts or jockstraps to keep the cup in position.
Cups are the reason why pro baseball players touch their crutch
Among the several pieces of equipment they’re using during practice and games, professional baseball players have two relevant items; a jockstrap with a protective cup.
When wearing a jockstrap with a cup, the cup is kept in place by the jockstrap to shield the genitals. The jock and cup come in different sizes (S, M, L, XL, etc.), but none fit ideally.
That said, even with a pretty solid fit, running, sliding, diving, swinging a bat – all the different physical drives required to play baseball cause the jockstrap and cup to bounce around.
The jock and cup movement causes some discomfort and distress and not giving the full protection required and wanted. As a result, baseball players need to continually readjust their jockstrap with the protective cup to be comfortable while being physically active.
If they don’t readjust in those crotch-snugging pants, they could squeeze them when they squat down getting ready during the next pitch. And nothing is more dangerous than getting a ball to the face because you abruptly had pain in the balls of your crotch.
However, baseball uniforms, over the years, have become more comfortable. They usually are a bit tight around the groin for maximum movement, as having folds of cloths agitate your action is irritating, and baseball is literally a game of inches.
Do female baseball players wear cups?
In softball, the ball is also thrown underhand, but the size of the ball is much bigger than baseball, so it’s more hitting the inner thigh and labia, which doesn’t hurt much.
Also, the distance between catcher and pitcher is just 12 meters maximum, whereas in baseball, it’s 18 meters, so it’s not likely to cause any severe injuries.
But although the injuries to the “area” are not the same or as significant a threat to a woman, there is still a chance of lasting severe damage. Besides, no matter what parts you have, it would still hurt like hell to catch a 70 mph ball in the crotch.
Female catchers wear cups that are shaped differently than men’s cups. It’s called a pelvic protector, and it is intended to protect the female genitalia from bruising or tearing. It covers the entire vulva. Any organization from Little League on up at least highly recommends using them.
