I thought I would post a little introduction. My name is Ryan, I'm a Senior Art Director for an ad agency in Toronto.
I come from a baseball family. My grandfather and his brothers all played it on the prairies in Saskatchewan.
My uncle was signed way back in the day by Milwaukee. My brother and I both had the tools to try and make the big
leagues. My brother choose to try and make that dream a reality, I did not. He came close, but as with pro sports,
especially for a Canadian, the window was just missed. He did play for team USA twice, made second team All American
and got a college education and a Masters degree all on scholarship.
In the days before the web and eBay facilitated things, I scoured antique stores around here for a vintage split finger
glove to no avail. I had mentioned my quest to my grandmother in Saskatchewan who in a few weeks time told me
that my great aunt still had her husband's glove from the 30's and that she was going to give it to me as a gift.
I was awestruck and it's one of the greatest gifts I've ever received. That was 1993.
It's a Spalding and is a "fire glove" in that it's the one glove I save during a fire, and will never let it go:
Fast forward to the 2000s and eBay and I started collecting gloves in earnest. I've managed to pick up some nice ones,
focusing on the 30's and earlier. A couple from the collection:
Seemingly unused Spalding. This I had to have if only to see what my Spalding would have look like when first bought
by my great uncle:
A really nice Marathon, suede-like texture to the glove with neat little webbings of sorts at the finger joints:
A little-used D&M, awesome condition outside of the name on the strap:
Neat Goldsmith with good stampings:
A Stall and Dean I got from glove crazy Rob:
I haven't kept an active eye on the hobby in the last 3 years, but as with most of my hobbies, a little break
does the body good. I love baseball, and especially the history. I think it's got the richest and most interesting
history in sports. One of my favourite things in life was to stand on that mound, face a batter, just he and I,
and strike him out.
And there's nothing like a baseball glove. To stand in the field and simply smell the leather, smell the grass and
feel the sunshine, and feel the glove on your hand, a trusted friend that you know as well as your own hand.
While on the subject of leather, I've taken up the art of the Bullwhip this year, progressing nicely with that sport,
and the similarities of the glove and whip in the choice of leathers (whips are made, typically, from Kangaroo hides)
and how you come to know and have to trust the whip like you would a glove.
Anyways, that's me in a rather long nutshell. There are some really great people that I've come across in this hobby
(Jim, Brett, Rob, Jerry to name a few) and I look forward to my time here at the forum!
I'm sure I'll be pestering everyone with a few wants I have over the next little while.
Ryan
