# Batting with a "thumb ring" **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 5, 2018, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/batting-with-a-thumb-ring/813628 "2018-05-05T05:47:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/batting-with-a-thumb-ring/813628/1 "2018-05-05T05:47:10Z")
Do any of the MLB players still use those O-rings that slide on the thumb? Seems like I heard about them quite a bit several years ago and then - nothing. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/batting-with-a-thumb-ring/813628/2 "2018-05-07T13:00:59Z")
Seems it was about 10 years ago people were asking what the heck are those guys wearing on their top hand thumb. You can still buy them. Looks like Bryce Harper has used one as recently as 2015 (check the picture in this article). > **[Bryce Harper made a subtle change to his game, and now he's the scariest...](https://www.businessinsider.com/bryce-harper-has-become-the-scariest-hitter-in-mlb-2015-5)** > > Bryce Harper has been more patient at the plate. Otherwise, I haven’t paid enough attention to say how popular the are anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/batting-with-a-thumb-ring/813628/3 "2018-05-07T14:27:06Z")
At least one of the Red Sox is using one this year. Nunez, maybe. Guys use them, AIUI, to cut down on vibrations and “sting” when their hands are less than 100%. ---
**Author:** ![Lips\_Obsession](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bbce88/32.png) [@Lips\_Obsession](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lips_Obsession)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/batting-with-a-thumb-ring/813628/4 "2018-05-07T16:40:08Z")
I could have sworn I saw Javy Baez of the Cubs wearing one the other day… ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/batting-with-a-thumb-ring/813628/5 "2018-05-12T15:08:26Z")
You wear them to increase your surface contact with the bat and your palm. Sometimes when you swing your grip tightens at the top of the hand which transfers contact from the palm to the area around your thumb. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/batting-with-a-thumb-ring/813628/6 "2018-05-12T20:14:24Z")
Last year when I did a fantasy camp that a major league team sponsors with former players in their spring training facility, I had a sore thumb from hitting (which I hadn’t done in 20 years). The trainer gave me one of those o-rings and it worked. Rght now I have the Diamonbacks vs Nationals game on anfd it looks like Matt Adams of the Nats has a white o ring with his black hitting gloves. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/batting-with-a-thumb-ring/813628/7 "2018-05-13T10:48:05Z")
Bryce Harper still uses one sometimes, so do some other players. ---
**Author:** ![Lips\_Obsession](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bbce88/32.png) [@Lips\_Obsession](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lips_Obsession)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/batting-with-a-thumb-ring/813628/8 "2018-05-13T13:11:44Z")
I can definitely confirm that Javy Baez of the Cubs still uses one. If you have seen the story of his “swim slide” stealing second base in yesterday’s game, you can see one on his hand there. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/batting-with-a-thumb-ring/813628/9 "2018-05-13T15:25:02Z")
I never noticed those thumb rings before. Are MLB players still wearing those woo-woo necklaces that “align the electrical fields in the body with magnets” or some ridiculous shit like that? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/batting-with-a-thumb-ring/813628/10 "2018-05-13T17:04:11Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > I never noticed those thumb rings before. Are MLB players still wearing those woo-woo necklaces that “align the electrical fields in the body with magnets” or some ridiculous shit like that? That used to bother me but then I remembered that baseball players are the most superstitious people on the planet and that’s probably nothing compared to the typical wacky crap they do to avoid bad luck. So whatever. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/batting-with-a-thumb-ring/813628/11 "2018-05-16T03:03:49Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > That used to bother me but then I remembered that baseball players are the most superstitious people on the planet and that’s probably nothing compared to the typical wacky crap they do to avoid bad luck. I was watching Tomlln pitch for the Indians today with lots of closeups of him getting ready to throw. For every pitch he holds the ball in the glove right up to his face and vibrates the ball around and I swear he is talking to the ball. All I can find is older videos and he seems to have always done the wiggling thing but no talking. In my mind all I could think of was Carl talking to the golf ball in _Caddyshack_. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/batting-with-a-thumb-ring/813628/12 "2018-05-16T03:16:33Z")
Heres the English Cricket Captain wearing his ‘Power Band Bracelet’ because - whatever. [https://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2013%2F01%2F17%2Farticle-2263702-0D88639B00000578-987\_634x566.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-2263702%2FRICHARD-KAY-Andrew-Strauss-faces-testing-time-property-row.html&docid=CmowzYYToxQeoM&tbnid=dwsr2YuNYDq2ZM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwiQw8j8oYnbAhUFkVQKHUiyAhUQMwg2KAIwAg…i&w=634&h=566&bih=710&biw=1344&q=andrew%20strauss%20power%20band&ved=0ahUKEwiQw8j8oYnbAhUFkVQKHUiyAhUQMwg2KAIwAg&iact=mrc&uact=8](https://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2013%2F01%2F17%2Farticle-2263702-0D88639B00000578-987_634x566.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-2263702%2FRICHARD-KAY-Andrew-Strauss-faces-testing-time-property-row.html&docid=CmowzYYToxQeoM&tbnid=dwsr2YuNYDq2ZM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwiQw8j8oYnbAhUFkVQKHUiyAhUQMwg2KAIwAg..i&w=634&h=566&bih=710&biw=1344&q=andrew%20strauss%20power%20band&ved=0ahUKEwiQw8j8oYnbAhUFkVQKHUiyAhUQMwg2KAIwAg&iact=mrc&uact=8) To quote Wikipedia “Andrew Strauss was educated at Caldicott School, a boys’ prep school in Buckinghamshire,[16] followed by Radley College, a public boarding school for boys in Oxfordshire. He studied economics at the University of Durham, and wrote his dissertation on supermodular games. He graduated in 1998 with an upper-second class BA degree.” Edumacation, hey?