What do you use when you play ball?

[Cowboy7130]

I have been wondering about this for some time now. What do you guys use when you go play ball? Whether it's a backyard game of catch with your son or grandsons, or a city league baseball game, do you ever take one of the gloves off your shelves and go play? Do any of you ever play with some of your vintage, valuable glove collections? Admittedly, I have a pretty lame collection by forum standards, but some of my favorites live on the shelves and never get a workout anymore. I just don't want to bust a lace or scuff the leather any more than it already is ... but on the other hand ... do you think my old gloves are getting lonely??

[MVALZ]

I was lucky enough to play in a tournament at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown last summer. I used my trusty PRO 6HF then broke out my Rawlings MM1 Marty Marion split for the ninth inning at SS. Unfortunatley nothing was hit to me, but an outfielder threw me a frozen rope that almost took a few fingers off. I've also been seen playin catch with my flea market finds before I leave the lot.

[mittmutt]

Last year I thought it might be fun to take my MacGregor Goldsmith pre war Leo "the flash" Durocher to the ball park. It was a great topic of conversation with several fans. I was sitting on the third base line when a very, very hot smash came off the bat and headed right for me. I stuck up my glove just as I would have my A2000 thinking a simple one handed grab would be mine. As you are expecting me to say, my hand was about torn off as the glove was ripped from my fingers. Not many of the fans watching me were impressed. I'll never know how players in the "olden" days could catch anything with the gloves they used.

[glove-works]

My 16 year old son pitched a few innings this HS season with a couple vintage gloves of ours, including a Musial TG12, and a Turley PM1 3 finger. No problems, of course the TG12 is a progressive design by 1960 standards, and as playable as any new glove on the market.

[jwoody]

My playground glove is a 1956 Spalding 3 finger model 1207, which is similar to the Rawlings PM1. The glove glove I take to ballgames is my 1953 Musial PMM, which always receives friendly comments...

[Brennerbaseball]

I played with a Rawlings Fernando Valenzuela model when I was a kid. I take out mitts from my collection all the time to play catch with. Don't get me wrong, I don't take any of my crescent pads out but I don't hesitate with my Goldsmith Elmer Riddle (I have three of them) war era model. It is a lot of fun.

[softball66]

I use my Bid McPhee model. Ball doesn't stick too well though, and makes you concentrate on seeing the ball into the "glove."

[BretMan]

I play for a men's fastpitch softball team and have three "gamer" gloves in my equipment bag for different positions. This is kind of an odd mix of gloves.

The one I use the most is a 13" Wilson A2000 from the 80's This is an import/Japanese model, so I'm not too worried about dinging it up! I found this glove at a flea market for $5 and have completely relaced and conditioned it to excellent condition. This is mainly my outfield glove.

It catches great. but has always felt slightly uncomfortable on my hand. It's getting better as it breaks in, though. I think that I am going to have to modify the thumb and pinky loops to get a tighter fit on my hand.

My most comfortable glove is a run-of-mill 12.5" Rawlings RSE36 (the venerable RBG36 pattern with supposedly better leather) from the early 90's, complete with Cal Ripken endorsement. Even though this is a mid-priced glove, it is broken-in perfectly, works great and feels great, too. The smaller size works best on the infield.

The third is a huge 14" MacGregor SB4 model from the early 80's. This glove is a catching machine with an oversized pocket similar to the Rawlings "Big Wheel" gloves. It is also odd because it is a three-fingered glove, pre-dating the Rawlings "Vice" series of softball gloves by nearly two decades. I used one of these in the 80's until it fell apart and found a barely used one on eBay a couple of years ago.

Yes, I will play some catch with a vintage glove once-in-awhile.And I'll sometimes take one with me to a Reds or Indians game...just in case a foul ball comes my way!

[burker72]

I have used two different gloves in the last couple of years...

Playing shortstop I have mostly used a Rawlings KM8 Reggie Jackson model with the H-Web. I guess you could say this is the poor man's SM6. Honestly...it is a great glove. It is very broken in, the web is great for catching hot grounders, and everyone makes fun of me for my old glove. I have re-laced it a couple of times and clean it regularly.

I have also been playing with a Bob Turley TG24 Trap-eze model. This was an old beater that I found on ebay. I dyed this one black and relaced with tan lacing. It looks as good as new and is also very easy to catch with, although I think the Trap-eze is much better suited to baseball.

[BretMan]

Since I umpire upwards to 100 games a year, I see a lot of kids using a lot of different gloves. Some of these gloves were issued decades before these kids were even born! Just this past week, I saw some interesting gloves on kids that just had to be treasured hand-me-downs from dear old Dad.

One kid had a nice old Rawlings (that was several sizes too big for him, but that's another issue). As he walked by it caught my eye and I noticed this was an RBG4 Fenando Valenzuela from the 1980's.

I was even more shocked to see a kid using a really nice Rawlings XFCB17 (the "newer" Tom Seaver model, not the Brooks Robinson version).

I noticed another kid with a good looking MacGregor. It's been years since MacGregor issued a glove that looked like this one, and it turned out to be a Vida Blue endorsed glove.

Just yesterday, I saw one that really made my jaw drop. A kid was playing shortstop with one of those black Rawlings gloves that had the big red Rawlings "R" serving as the web!

I wonder what would happen if I were to wave a five dollar bill in front of these kids after the game and offer to buy their glove. What would probably happen is I'd have a seriously ticked-off dad to deal with when he found out junior had sold his prized possession!

[mballiet]

I bought a TG24 Bob Turley model on ebay and my son used it the entire little league season through all stars and it has held up beautifully. He also has a TN11 Boog Powell firstbaseman's glove that he breaks out when at firstbase.

Can anybody tell me what year's Rawlings made the TG24 with the Bob Turley autograph? I'm assuming late 50's and early 60's. Is this correct?

[BretMan]

Rawlings introduced the Trap-Eze web on fielder's gloves in 1960. The TG24 Turley was sold in '60, '61 and '62.

I have a 1962 TG36 Tony Kubek model that I'm debating using as a gamer. It is in kind of rough shape, so I'm not worried about getting it dirty.

On the flip side, it is an early Trap-Eze glove with a somewhat rare endorsement and a glove that was only produced one season. I imagine that if it turned out looking pretty nice it would never reach the field and be relegated to the display shelf!

[SoCalTigerGuy]

I play in an 18+ wood bat league....and I usually carry at least 5 gloves at all time.

On the infield I use a 11" Wilson Pro 1000, backed up by an 11 1/2" Brady with an I-web ( I used to be a rep for Brady)...at third I use an Akadema 11 1/2 inch Reptillian that was customized for me with my name stitched on it.

In the outfield or on the mound, I use a 12" HOH Trapeze (this one is old enough that it is not the Griffey model)

Then their is an old Rawlings RGB model for first base, and either an Easton or an HOH catcher's mitt (although that glove only gets used in an emergency)

In the preseason, I tend to use one of my Nokona pre-wars to soften up my hands for the season.....I usually practice with those whenever I get a chance as well.

[wareagle34]

WHEN WE HAVE OUR GLOVE MEETINGS AT RICKWOOD FIELD IN BIRMINGHAM, AL. WE ALL GO TO THE FIELD WHILE WE ARE THERE AND TOSS THE BALL AROUND, SHAG SOME FLYS AND TROT, NOT RUN THE BASES. I USE MY FAVORITE SPLITFINGER A DENKERT PEE WEE REESE PWR MODEL. ITS A BIG GLOVE WITH A GREAT POCKET AND A WELL PADDED HEEL. IT HAS A TRIPLE TUNNEL LOOP WEB AND STILL HAS THE ORIGINAL LACES IN THE WEBBING, CATCHING THE BALL IS NO PROBLEM, BUT TRYING TO FIELD A HOT ONE IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE, I DON'T KNOW HOW THEY DID IT.
IF ANY OF YOU GUYS CAN EVER MAKE IT TO ONE OF OUR MEETINGS YOUR ALWAYS WELCOME, YOU'LL FALL IN LOVE WITH RICKWOOD.



WAR EAGLE!

[Mike**Mize]

If I'm using modern day gloves I like to bring out my nice pair of Nokonas.
Ones an AMG 1175 American Pro Infielders Glove. What a beauty! the other is an AMG 127ST (12.75" Trapeze style Outfielders Glove). It's great to introduce guys to Nokona gloves and they're both fun to catch with.
If I'm going vintage my favorites are the M/G Pete Reiser JCL and the Ted Williams 614 40's Split fingers. I've got pretty nice beaters of both. If I want to bring along a base mitt it's probably gonna be an M/G Frank McCormick. I'm reluctant to mess around with older (30's and older) stuff in live action, but the beautiful thud of the ball hitting these 40's split finger gloves is well worth it.