The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-24
MASK INVENTED
 BY HARVARD MAN Fred Thayer Made the First
 One In 1875 BRIGGS HAS THE RELIC Thatcher and Tyne Claim Honor or Having First Worn Maidstone Interesting History of the
 Game.
 
BRIGGS HAS TIE RELIC
BY WALTER c. BRIGGS.

(Note-The author of this article is at the present time considered one of the eountry's leading architects and has his home at Bridgeport, Conn.)
 The story of the introduction of any one of the many features. which now make up the ballplayers battle regalia makes interesting reading at any time, and, therefore, I write this in the hope that it will be appreciated by your read7 CTS as an authentic piece of baseball history
 In the year 1896, in a story in the New York Sun, Howard K. Thatcher, prac- ticing physician of Dexter, Me, wrote as follows
 q entered Harvard university in 1874 and in that year played on the ball team, always catching. Henry Hooper, now successful merchant of Boston, used to pitch for me, and he always delivered the ball overland He was very swift and I always stood as near the bat as the catchers do now. though l had no protection for the face. l could dodge pretty well, and as curves were unknown, I could judge the ball to a nicety.
 'In the winter of 1875, Ernst, student aI tne hO tAS a new wrinkle, and started in practicing the underhand throw, and discovered that the ball would curve. l had to catch for him, too, and 1 set about thinking how I could protect my face. used to bear rubber band over my mouth, but I decided that this was not enough pro- lection for me When we played our first game in the spring of 1876, l put on mask which I had made from heavy wire. The edges were wound with leather, and l had strap on the chin and another at the forehead. My chum, Fred Thayer, helped me to make it, and I confess it was a queer-lookng thing. I was ridi- culed for wearing it, because people thought that catcher did not need any protection for his face. Consequently I put 1t aside but Thayer stood by it. had it patented, and won many lawsuits against sporting houses who realized the value of the device, and sought to obtain control of it."
 About a month after this article ap- ieared, the following was sent in by James A. Tyng, who was at the time a resident of Bar Harbor, Me.
 ''As regards the story of the first mask your correspondent was not so far off in his dates. The first appearance was in the spring of 1877. not 1876, as he places it.
 q was at that time member of the Harvard nine. and Thayer, who was cap tain of the team, wanted me to fill the position of catcher To this my family were opposed, on account of the dan ger, and l suggested to him the idea of having a mask made that would pro- tect my face. He followed my sugges- ton, and a wire maker in Boston made me mask which, although heavy and clumsy compared with those in use at the present day, answered the purpose for which it was intended, and this mask was worn by me In the three re- mainng years that I played and caught on the nine.
 "Thayer took out a patent on the invention, and, according to rumor made quite a sum of money on it. though I cannot say this as fact"
 Here are the facts as I know them.
 In the spring of 1875 I returned from my studies in Europe and resumed my position as catcher for the Beacon team of Boston, at that time catching Beals Hooper and sometimes Ernst. During the early summer of that year, the Beacons played several games with the 
 bridge of a face protector, or mask, that Fred Thayer, captain and third baseman of the Harvard team, was get ting up, and which Thatcher, who was catching for Harvard at that time, was to use. Naturally I was interested in the newfangled protector. and went to Thayer's room some time during the summer or fall of 1875. saw work ing model of the device, and if I re- member rightly, made some sugges- tions concerning It. Soon after this. either late in the fall of 1875, or in the spring of 1876, procured one of these masks of whom I cannot remember but I think through Thayer and I used it a little during the early games of 1878. left Boston on July 5, 1878, and came to Bridgeport, Conn.,, and have since resided here. l brought with me at that time the mask to which I have referred, and have it in my possession today, a relic of the past, and I be- lieve. one of the first face protectors ever used. Later l saw Tyng using the same thing, but as I left Boston year before the date he mentions and as I saw model of the device some months before that time, in Thayer's room, I do not think there can be any doubt about the accuracy of my statement.
 I had always supposed that the in-