alternate interpretations

bASEBALL uMPIRE cHEST pROTECTOR

Original Label by Colleague

Amateur and professional baseball umpires have made this one of the most popular chest protectors since 2009. This chest protector has traveled from Florida to Delaware and all the states in between, seeing many baseball games and has stopped many 98 mph fastballs from crushing the chest and collar bones of the umpire who once wore it. While it is durable, it is lightweight, allowing the umpire to move quickly on the baseball field. It started out in youth baseball and made its way to professional baseball in the Carolina League which is High A of the Minor League Baseball system.

Alternate Label by Brad Hawkins

During the Summer of 2020, the United States was embroiled in a series of peaceful protests for social equality and against police brutality. With widespread accessibility of social media, large protests in many of the nation’s biggest cities were rapidly organized.  Some protests turned violent and evolved into hostilities between protesters and the police or other rival factions.  Some protest participants prepared for the possibility of violence and donned protective gear such as football equipment, skateboarding gear, or this baseball umpire’s chest protector.  The protective gear was repurposed from athletic uses, but still served to reduce the risk of bodily harm from blunt force trauma, non-lethal projectiles, and falls.