I never heard of that. Has it happened in modern times?
Yes. I can think of one incident in the 21st century.
Back when Michael Barrett was a catcher for the Cubs, he used his face mask to corral a gently rolling (pitched) ball he had initially blocked with his chest protector. There was a runner on first, and that runner was awarded home.
It just so happened to occur in an amateur game I was playing in about 3 weeks later. I was the runner on 2nd. I called time and appealed to the field ump that I should be awarded home because the catcher had used his catcher's helmet to do almost the exact same thing. The ump didn't know what I was talking about. After the inning (because I was stranded on 2nd), both umps talked with me but neither knew of the rule.
All the Mariners losses are coming from the bullpen. Probably shouldn’t have traded their closer. But they needed someone to play second because Wong was atrocious.
Hopefully they figure it out. Would love to see them make a deep run. It’s a fun team.