With a national spotlight on injuries and safety in sports, the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center examines the fascinating history of baseball and hockey facial protection with a new exhibit: Saving Face: The Evolution of the Catcher and Goalie Mask, to run from April 1 – October 4, 2015.
As the last line of defense, baseball catchers and hockey goalies play the most perilous positions in their sports. Besides mental stress, they face speeding fastballs and flying pucks, coming at them like missiles out of a fog.
They are part psychologists, part acrobats, part traffic cops and full-time protectors of home plate and the goal crease, respectively. And the mask is their most valuable – and personal – piece of armor.
The exhibit includes some of sports’ most iconic game facewear, including Boston Bruins goalie Gerry Cheevers’ famous stitched mask, regarded as the most recognizable goalie mask of all time. Featuring some of baseball and hockey’s primitive facial protection, the exhibit also includes the masks of current stars such as Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers and Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants.
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