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Rejoice, my bespectacled brethren: Kelby Tomlinson is helping bring glasses back to MLB

Tomlinson helping bring glasses back to Major Leagues

After Joe Panik was placed on the DL, the Giants called up the 25-year-old Minor League infielder Kelby Tomlinson (he's played short, second and third in Double- and Triple-A this season) to take his spot on the roster. He quickly made an impact, getting a hit in his first Major League at-bat and going 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs in his first big league start. 

Perhaps more importantly, he has brought glasses back to the Major League roster. A former fixture on a baseball player's face -- inspiring near-sighted people like me who were wearing frames at the tender age of 7 -- the advent of sports goggles, breathable contacts, and futuristic (not to mention terrifying) laser surgery conspired to put an end to the fashion and function of glasses. 

With only Eric Sogard across the Bay holding it down for every bespectacled youngster hoping to one day play baseball, today it is time for us to figure out where on the glasses-o-ramoter Tomlinson ranks. Here is our scientific answer. 

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With his almost-out-of-a-video-game (or squash tournament) specks, Tomlinson veers a little off the path towards goggledom, though clearly he is closer to peak glasses than players like Tyler Clippard, Brett Cecil or Kevin Gausman -- all who wear a modified form of goggles and not pure corrective lenses. At the other end of the spectrum is Greg Maddux, who wore some great glasses, but never (if memory serves) actually wore them during games. 

Will the combined duo of Sogard and Tomlinson bring back eyeglasses to the Major Leagues? Or, as robotic eyes and Google Glass 2.0 become standard on human faces, are they a dying breed -- the last two men inspiring nerdy elementary school kids at baseball's highest level? 

Read More: San Francisco GiantsKelby Tomlinson