Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Review of Honig's Poly-Wool Pants

Honig's seems to have the umpire pants market cornered at the upper levels in baseball. There is good reason for this:

Honig's Poly-Wool is the Cadillac of pants.

The best thing about the Poly-Wools is the quality appearance. These pants look like Sunday dress pants, but are designed for the umpire. The Poly-Wools are constructed from a heavyweight polyester and wool blend. A double clasp keeps the barn door shut and the "Snug-fit" waistband keeps your shirt tucked. They have a pleated front with extra wide belt loops.

The Poly-Wool plate pants feature a reinforced knee (two layers of material) and saddle stitching. Presently the Poly-Wools are only offered in charcoal grey, and are not available in heather grey.

I wondered how these pants actually "measure up" to other pants I have in my closet, so I pulled out my tape measurer. All of my umpiring pants are 38" waist (I know, I know, light beers are good too. . .). I measured the rise (from bottom of waistband to center point of crotch between legs); the hips (around the fullest part of the seat); and the knee. I was surprised by the results.

It is interesting to me that the Gerry Davis Combos have a similar cut to the Honig's Poly-Wool plate pants. Also note that the GD combos are 20" at the leg opening (at the cuff) and Poly-Wool plate pants are 24", which is consistent with a combo pant's trimmer cut. This also confirms my previous post reviewing Smitty's combos in which I complained that Smitty's are cut a little slimmer. In this case the data shows a full 4 inches slimmer!

The pants I have in my umpire closet are all different shades. Below is a group photo, top to bottom: Dalco heather grey, Smitty heather grey, Honig's heather grey, Honig's charcoal grey, and Gerry Davis charcoal grey.
As you can see, the difference in color is considerable!

The Poly-Wools are comfortable, very well-constructed, and look fantastic. These umpire pants are the cream of the crop. The only negatives for these pants is the color difference (somewhere between heather and charcoal), and that Honig's recommends dry cleaning only. With that said, I have a friend that is a minor league umpire who regularly washes his Poly-Wools (with Woolite on delicate cycle). I have also washed mine and I have not seen negative effects.

Honig's are the best umpire pants available, but they also come with a higher price tag. At the time of this writing Honig's sells its Poly-Wool base pants for $73.95, and its Poly-Wool plate pants for $79.95. In comparison, Gerry Davis sells its charcoal pants for $48.90 for plate, base or combo.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

What are your feelings about pleats? I currently wear Fechheimer plate and base pants (Heather grey). They are flat front which I really like. I am in the market for Charcoal grey pants and most have pleats. Do Honig’s have pleats? I really like the flat front look but have to admit I’ve never worn pleated umpire pants, so perhaps I wouldn’t mind.

Anonymous said...

The Honig poly-wools are the SAME slacks worn by the MLB guys except:

Different material for pockets

each MLB ump has there our pattern

That's it.......

Pete Reiser said...

I also prefer flat front, but I think you and I are in the minority. The Poly Wools are only available with pleats.

viagra online said...

this type of pants is a lot of quality for the heavy work
is by far my favorite pants for work weight

JJ said...

Is there any difference between the Honigs Poly-Wools and the Ump-Attire Poly Wools?

Precision Resistors said...

Those are nice pants!

Anonymous said...

Where do short guys go for flat front pants that the crotch doesn't go to the knees?

dduskin7 said...

Flat fronts are a softball thing..baseball use should wear pleats or look like a knob