Cecil says here that the Topps people told him Joe still has use of both his eyes and just wears an eyepatch because of how stylin’ it looks.
I seem to remember a teacher of mine in middle school telling us that pirates used to wear eyepatches over one of their eyes to condition it for night-vision. At night, they would find a village or another boat to pillage and flip their eyepatch over to the other eye, which would give them the advantage in the near-pitch darkness.
Did this really happen? And more importantly, could Bazooka Joe have worn his eyepatch for the same reason?
Yes. He might wear an eyepatch for a different reason, however. For example, an eyepatch is a convenient tool to employ when using the sights of a firearm – pistol, rifle, bazooka.
Amateur astronomers do this. Issue 3 of Make magazine has a article on this, including a picture of a guy with an eyepatch and a towel on his head, Hitchhiker’s Guide style, to further block light. So my question is, why doesn’t Joe keep a towel on his head?
Very true- when I was younger and used to shoot with my father (he’s been a competitive shooter for as long as I can remember- at least 30 years) he made me a pair of safety glasses that had blinders on the side and I always put a patch over my left eye to block out light and distractions. It really made a big difference in accuracy, at least for me. It’s a very stylish look, too. OK, maybe not.
Because then people would confuse him for a stereotypical Arab and boycott his gum. Also, it would be a lot harder for him to get through airport security.
