Innovation unmasked

UmpVu cameras that bring viewers closer to the game began in Burlington

- DANNY GALLAGHER

Alek Manoah's electric appearance at the 2022 MLB all-star game gave an occasionally staid sport a dose of much-needed coolness.

The Blue Jays pitcher, wearing a live microphone on the broadcast, had already recorded one strikeout when he confidently said he would throw a "heater" to batter Joc Pederson on a 1-and-2 count. The camera flipped to the umpire's point of view and suddenly millions watching were able to see the unfathomable speed of a fastball travelling 60 feet, six inches from the mound to the hitter.

Then the camera behind home plate shook and swung up to the blue sky before stumbling off-kilter and into a pair of navy pants. The ball had been foul-tipped straight into home plate umpire Bill Miller's mask and he quickly pulled it, and the accompanying camera, off his head.

"Almost got him," the pumped-up Manoah said. "Ninety-six (m.p.h.), here we go, we're loosening up."

That unique, split-second perspective during an hours-long broadcast was courtesy of a tiny camera implanted in the umpire's mask: UmpVu, a relatively new piece of technology produced by a small company in Burlington and headed by a man who grew up in the Maritimes but now lives in Newmarket.

"It's very exciting, it's very positive, everyone wants more of it," RF Wireless president and partner Rob Bunn told the Star. "They like the angle because it brings another perspective to the game that has not happened before in baseball."