The biggest mistake that can be made is to think baseball glasses are chosen purely for how they look and the shade they give to your eyes.
To merely buy inexpensive, decent-looking glasses means you’re totally ignoring the safety or performance factors required of this accessory.
Things need to be considered such as materials, colors and fit.
Choosing the wrong glasses for your position on the baseball field will lead to you being distracted on the field. Which is not want you want.
When buying any equipment it should enhance and benefit your overall performance and not hinder you.
The Fitting Of Your Sunglasses
The perfect pair of baseball sunglasses will be determined by how they fit when you put them on.
What you need to ensure when buying glasses is that they don’t slide or bounce while you’re playing.
Buying baseball glasses is essential because ordinary glasses are more than likely to be unstable on your face while playing. Which is why you should avoid regular sunglasses.
Regular glasses are not designed to stay in place, which will inevitably result in them being a distraction. They also pose the problem of having ineffective protection as well.
What To Look For In Baseball Glasses
The first thing you need is a low-profile fit that don’t obstruct your field of vision.
Baseball sunglasses should also have a wrap-around fit to give you the most peripheral protection.
It’s not a necessity, but if you have encountered any concerns about fit, looking for a pair with an adjustable or interchangeable nose pieces may be worth considering.
Choice Of Frame
You are forgiven if your main focus has been on the lenses of your glasses. But you should give both parts of the glasses equal importance.
Remember if your frame shatters you have no glasses.
To ensure the highest quality frame you should choose frames that meet ASTM F803 standards, this is hands down your best option.
What this standard means is that the sunglasses have been tested and are shatter resistant, within an Athletic setting.
There are also glasses that meet ANSI standards. This standard is cool if you are only looking for the minimum.
This standard means they have better protection than regular fashions glasses, but it’s more aimed at occupational situations rather than sporting situations
Frame Toughness
The strength of any frame will be dependent on the material that is being used.
What we recommend is that you choose polycarbonate. This material is light and at the same time will provide impact protection.
There are sunglasses that use plastic or other materials around the temples, but this often means they don’t meet the ASTM safety standards.
Frame Design
When a choosing a style for your glasses picking some that can be adjusted at the temples is a good choice, especially if you have had problems with fitting glasses before.
Part of your frames should also have stems that have some sort of grip attached to them, will help keep them in place when you make any sharp movements.
When you have finally got the fitting sorted out it is important that you can see the whole field with out being prohibited.
Getting glasses that are rimless at the bottom is a good way to prevent anything from blocking your range of vision.
Fortunately rimless styles are easy to come by as they are the most popular style so you should have no trouble finding this style.
Material Of Your Lenses
You need to have lenses that can stand up to all the goings on on the field. They should be able to protect you from any dangerous injury.
We recommend buying a high-end polycarbonate lens, as these are virtually unbreakable.
You need to have lenses that are 3mm polycarbonate to earn ASTM approval. If your lenses are thinner than this you are almost certainly sacrificing protection.
If you decide you’re on a budget and get a low end polycarbonate you should know that they are likely to add distortion to your vision.
A lense that is popular you might want to check out is the Trivet lense. Manufacturers of this lense say that it’s the lightest lens on the market, as well as being scratch resistant.
These facts may be true but Trivex lenses are also less durable when they encounter impact. Because of this the lenses litres and scratch resistant qualities go out of the window.
Treatment Of Your Lense
Although treatment of lenses is not something that is visible, high-definition lenses are generally a must have in today’s game. The make sure you have clear vision on the diamond.
You lense should also come with UV-protective coating. Generally this is included as standard with any good high quality polycarbonate lenses.
This will give you protection against the light exposure – which has the ability reduce your eyes quality.
If you want good UV protection any thing with a block of 99-100% of UVA and UVB rays, such as the Nike baseball sunglasses that include this treatment.
You will find that many manufacturers apply special coatings to their baseball sunglasses.
This coating will usually add contrast to colors on the field, which is engineered to make it easier to see the ball against the grass and sky.
The Features such as anti-reflective coating is very good for reducing the glare of stadium lights.
So if you know you will be playing at night, this is a quality you should be looking for.
Remember that when using anti-reflective coating it will only work when they are kept clean. This is something that can be difficult to maintain when you’re in the middle of an inning.
What Are Polarized Baseball Sunglasses?
Polarized is a word thrown around in the baseball sunglasses market. The truth is there are few athletes that know what it actually means.
Normal sunglasses will only reduce brightness equally over your field of vision.
Polarized lenses are different as they are able to reduce light that reflects off of surfaces in a horizontal beam, this is the light that most interferes with your vision.
Although polarized glasses are effective they’re not perfect. The usual side effect is that you ability to see far may be a bit off because of the polarization treatment.
Suggestions When Using Polarized Sunglasses.
It is best to use glasses that have a polarized filter between layers of the lens.
Glasses with this type of technology will increase the price, but the benefits are generally worth it.
You can also buy a lense with The polarized filter attached to the lenses with adhesive.
Lens Colors
If you have been searching for baseball sunglasses, you may have see the many interesting color lenses that are available.
It is a mistake to think these lense colours are just for fashion purposes.
Here is an explanation of the colors and how they benefit you in different shades.
Clear: these are good for night games as they provide protection without distorting visual clarity.
Grey: This will reduces overall brightness but still preserves colors, good for a somewhat sunny day.
A point to keep in mind is that it is hard to see the batter when he is in shadow, which is the effect of tints that are too dark.
Brown/Copper/Amber: These colors are very popular among baseball players. They are able to prevent blue light, which is good for brightening your vision on cloudy days, they will help you to differentiate the ball from the sky by adding contrast.
Orange: similar to yellow, this choice is good for protection while still letting in some natural brightness.
The main goal of orange lenses is too make things seem brighter on cloudy days. This makes it easy to see the ball against a grey sky.
Yellow: this lense is able to protect without darkening, the yellow lense is very good for reducing glare from overhead lights.
They are also known to reduce clarity overall too, which is unfortunate.
Green: they filter out blue tints, which reduces glare and heightens contrast slightly. This preserves the balance of colors which then reduces strain on your eyes on days that are bright.
Blue/Red: These color lenses actually are just used for looks. You should ensure that the color is on the outside of the lens and doesn’t actually tint your vision.
Mirror: Mirrored lenses again are just a fashion statement. The mirror will make no difference to your vision.
Hopefull this guide has helped you with you choice of glasses. If you are looking for cheap baseball glasses or kids or youth baseball glasses there’s a pair for everyone. It is also possible to get perscription baseball glasses also if required. Some popular brands you may want to look into are Oakley and Easton.
