New Member

[Bleacher Bum]

Hello,

I recently joined the forum after purchasing a glove from VintageBrett (great guy). I am new to the glove and vintage baseball collecting world. I have always had a love for baseball and now that I have an 8 year old son, I can be a kid again and play quite a bit. I play alot of softball in some rec. leagues and coach my son's little league team.

I recently had a great uncle pass away who played minor league ball back in the late 40s early 50s in the Three-I League (Iowa, Indiana, Illinois). What started me collecting was when my father brought out an old Rawlings TG 36 Trap-Eze glove endorsed by Hank Bauer that my great uncle had purchased for him when he was young. At the time, this glove was suposedly a top-of-the-line model. The glove was used heavily, which has given it character over time. This was my first attempt at relacing a glove and I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. Since working on this glove, I have purchased a few at local antique dealers, rummage sales, and of course eBay. To date I have a dozen or so gloves, five wood bats, and a bunch of autograph and vintage baseballs.

As you can see from my "Wanted" post, I am interested in collecting Nokona gloves. The only disclaimer is that I have a wife who will kill me if I go overboard on purchases. She is a great woman, therefore I admittedly state that she has to keep me under control or I will go nuts. Bless her heart for putting up with me!!

I noticed in one post that there is an expert in cleaning and restoring old bats. I just picked up a Trio Hollander Model bat with a Dick McAuliffe endorsement and could use some advise on how to get the Duct tape reminants off of the handle. This bat is in really good shape but just needs some cleaning. Any advise would be much appreciated.

Everyone has been great so far and I look foward to discussing baseball gloves, etc. and more with you all. Thank you!

Brad

[crackofthebat]

Make sure all of the tape has been removed. Use a little lacquer thinner on a cloth to remove the residue left by the tape. Sometimes on older bats I have used Scotch Scouring Pads (white or green). Try a sparing amount of lacquer thinner as it will remove the finish from the bat. Commercial products OOOPS and GOOF OFF also work well in removing the residue. Hope this helps!

[Bleacher Bum]

Thank you very much. I will give it a try.

[GloveDoctor]

One product that I have found is perfect for cleaning bats (particularly for getting pine tar off without damaging the wood) is a medical product I got from my office.

It is made by Convatec and it's called "AllKare." It's an adhesive remover for patients who use tape to hold on bandages. It's very similar to an alcohol prep, and it won't damage your wood. It may take off paint, but how many antique bats are painted?