An RBG36 Disappointment, and Searching for Junior

[Cowboy7130]

Last year my son got an RBG36 Ken Griffey Jr. fielder's glove as a "backup" for his gear bag. One of the reasons he got it is because it would not require much breaking in, but the other day we were playing catch and it literally folded back over his hand as he caught a ball. (Imagine what might have happened had he been trying to stop a line drive at his face! All that money for braces .... )

Anyway, I know a lot of you guys swear by your RBG36's, as evidenced in a discussion last year. Cisco wants another glove endorsed by Griffey (his favorite player ... he seems to have been infected by the "get-a-glove-endorsed-by-your-favorite-player" virus that is pervasive at my house! ). I was wondering: When did the RBG36 start going downhill? How could I get my hands on a good older model that still has a lot of life left in it? How can I tell what I am bidding on on ebay?

My suspicion is that I should look at a higher-quality Rawlings with the Griffey endorsement. Any suggestions?

*just a thought ... I may do the Frankenstein thing on the flimsy glove, adding some padding and thick laces. That really helped my old OR520*

[softball66]

Cowboy, I've got a near mint Griffey RBG36 and took a look at it to see what you were talking about. I can see maybe where this happened with the glove "giving" under a hard throw, small hand sort of occurrence. The forefinger and middle finger channels seem to break back under pressure as there's not enough stiffness in the leather nor any interlocking strength in the top of lacing like you see on some gloves of this size , maybe causing the "give" in the fingers.
Still, I like the glove's design... but use with some care.

[Cowboy7130]

... that is exactly where the glove bent! My solution is to search for a Gold Glove or a HOH Trap-Eze Griffey for him. My other solution is to build up the glove like I did the OR520. I may do that just because I enjoy taking gloves apart and putting them together again!