My Gloves and Their Stories

[edingc]

Just thought I'd show off my gloves. There's nothing historically valuable in there but I love them all.



Back Left:
Easton Natural Series NAT80 - I got this glove as a gift from my parents when I was younger. Apparently, the "knowledgeable" salesman thought that an 10 year old needed a 13 inch glove. Whatever. This glove saw little use then, but it is currently my softball gamer.

Back Right:
Wilson A2264 Jim Rice Signature Model - My first real glove that I got for free and used from 2nd grade to 6th grade. It's still in pretty good shape but the inner liner was starting to get eaten away when I retired it.

Front Left:
Nike Keystone Diamond Ready KDR1250 - My main glove broke midway through my junior season in high school and I needed a cheap and easy replacement. This glove has done its job, but I really regret spending money on that and not a better glove.

Front Center:
??? - This is the first glove that I ever used. I do not know the brand or what year it is because it is in terrible shape. I do know that it was probably made between 1950 and 1970. If you think you know what brand it is, please see this post.

Front Right:
Rawlings Gold Glove GGP200-9C - This is my baby and my current gamer (for the few rare games of baseball that I still play). I picked this up cheap and it is an awesome glove for the price.

Sorry for the long read, but I thought I'd better give you guys the stories behind the gloves as well.

Thanks!

[Mike_2007]

Thanks Cody,

Not long at all. Love reading about people's gloves

[awarsoca]

thanks, always enjoy reading about other folks and their gloves

[Cowboy7130]

Cody - I enjoyed reading about you and your gloves!

I am constantly amazed at how many Little Leaguers show up at a practice or a game with their dad's 14" slowpitch outfielder's glove dragging the tops of their shoes. What are their parents thinking?? "Well, if he can't use a big glove then there's no reason to buy him his own glove." Or ... "The bigger the glove, the bigger the pocket, and the smaller the chance of lil' Junior getting his widdle fingers stung by dat mean ol' baseball!" Personally, I think bigger gloves are hard for kids to handle and contribute to their frustration with the game before they even learn how to play it and appreciate its beauty!

Oh well, as you can tell, "wrong" gloves for kids is a pet peeve of mine ... but thanks for sharing your gloves and their stories with us!

[edingc]

I totally agree. I saw it all too often this summer as a Little League coach where kids were playing with 14" gloves. Not only are they too big, they tend to be extremely heavy. Not a good combination for a Little League player.

In my case it worked out okay. I used that glove for about 10 games during summer ball in high school when I played outfield. It worked, but now it is a really nice softball glove instead.

[wjr953]

When I asked that question of one of my LL players parents, they told me that because gloves were so expensive, they wanted to buy just one that he could "grow into". I told them that the glove was so damn big, the kid could live in it, never mind grow into it. Jeez. I've seen storage sheds that were smaller than that kids' glove. The damn thing weighed almost as much as the kid did for God's sake. If he ever got strong enough to get his glove hand over his head, and if he actually tried to catch a fly ball with it, the weight of the glove along with the weight of the batted ball would have knocked him right over. What are these people thinking?

br

[edingc]

Haha, I hear you on that one. Like I said, I coached an All-Star 13-14 y/o team this year and our shortstop had a 14(!) inch glove. There's no reason for a glove to ever be THAT big.

12 inches is plenty for almost every position on a baseball field.

I've always wanted to know why parents spend so much on getting the "right" bats ($200+ Stealths etc.) but they overlook the most important thing - the glove.