Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

I had a chance to get an up-close look at a couple of odd game gloves this week.

I play on a men's fastpitch softball team and we picked-up a new player recently. As he was unloading his equipment bag, his gamer glove caught my eye.

It was a 13" Rawlings Trap-Eze type glove. The unusual thing about this glove was that it had a shell made totally made of red leather. The glove had all black lacing and looked really sharp. Closer inspection showed a large stamping in the palm that that said "Rawlings Pro-Model".

I commented on his unique glove and he explained that he had purchased it in Japan while stationed there in the Navy. It apparently was a "Japan only" model available only overseas. Cool glove!

Then, he pulled his back-up glove from his bag and this one really threw me for a loop! It was a high-quality glove with a manufacturer's name of "SAF". It was also a "six-finger" type glove with a web that looked like the Mizuno "Ichiro" models.

The shell was a great looking dark blue and grey combination. He told me that he also bought this glove overseas.

I had never heard of this glovemaker before. Just today, I found several of their gloves on eBay. Here is a link to their eBay store:

http://stores.ebay.com/SAF-Marketplace

Does anyone have any information on "SAF" brand gloves?

I think Rawlings has made USA gloves especially for sale in Japan. Many Japanese buyers prefer and have interest in game stock, or other heart of the hides as I've worked with several of these In past years.
In the 1980s Spalding had Nocona make some Spalding USA gloves for sale almost exclusively into Japan.
So this is probably the case on this Rawlings glove, maybe made to Japanese tastes.