Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

Just went by the local sporting goods store. They just received a new shipment of Ox Blood HOH gloves....All of the new Ox Blood HOH gloves now have Black "Deer tanned Cowhide" lining.....originally when the Ox Blood HOH came out about a year and a half ago they all had Black "Deer Skin" lining in them........Still same retail price of $199....I guess glove sales are down like everything else.....I guess saving $1-$2 cost per glove will help Rawlings out a little.

Just curious if anyone else has noticed any other cost cutting measures in the high end glove world?

I think the whole mesh thing is exactly for that. Its cheaper but the consumer will never see the savings. Some will believe the mesh is for performance because its lighter. I will never buy it. My AR13 was not any lighter than my RV23....if it was it was negligable.

What is the best way to get the public to buy a cheaper made glove, and sell it for as much or more? Very simple...get a pro to wear it. More specifically get Arod to wear it. Nobody really cared that Clemens wore one.

I think its easier to get a pro to wear one now. I dont think they care as much about their gloves as they use to. Brooks Robinson and Nettles had the same beat up glove for years. In fact when someone stole Nettles glove during an All Star Game..it was big news because Nettles was freaking out. Now gloves just seem more disposable.

Corporate Greed.

I hope they loose market share, and then can't afford to bribe A-Rod to wear that mesh glove and he switches back to leather, or even switches to another maker.

I remember Wilson tried to pass off that cheap as Pleather back glove a few years ago......it didn't fly.

The advertisement said half as heavy-twice as strong.

What was that crap called?

GloveGypsy wrote:

What was that crap called?

Superskin I believe

splinters wrote:Just went by the local sporting goods store. They just received a new shipment of Ox Blood HOH gloves....All of the new Ox Blood HOH gloves now have Black "Deer tanned Cowhide" lining.....originally when the Ox Blood HOH came out about a year and a half ago they all had Black "Deer Skin" lining in them........Still same retail price of $199....I guess glove sales are down like everything else.....I guess saving $1-$2 cost per glove will help Rawlings out a little.

I think Deer tanned Cowhide is a much better product than actual deer skin. Deer skin is usually much thinner than cowhide and very stretchy. If you want something semi exotic elk is much better choice for lining than deer.

I just recently did some work on a black A2000 the finger tops with the superskin actually looked a lot better than the leather finger tops.

I was really surprised!

Superskin......that's right, that's it.......What a laugh!


How about "Super Profit Skin"


I hope A-Rod drops that glove faster than he jettisoned his wife and kids.


Then again, maybe he won't. After all, he went for Madonna and the BUCKS.

GloveGypsy wrote:Superskin......that's right, that's it.......What a laugh!


How about "Super Profit Skin"


I hope A-Rod drops that glove faster than he jettisoned his wife and kids.


Then again, maybe he won't. After all, he went for Madonna and the BUCKS.

Why all the hate for Arod? Lots of guys go for the bucks, and lots of people get divorced. Just not everyone has a shot to get Madonna.

I do agree with you...I hope he gets back to all leather.

cost on mesh gloves is less than leather gloves. The markup is higher. Thus you shouldn't be mad at Rawlings, but rather the retailers who seem to be making higher margins on cheaper costing gloves.

I noticed that Academy Sporting goods has Nokona gloves priced $159 and $169 for walnut leather versions of the 11.5" and 12" gloves.

This was earlier tonight.

Academy is the big discount sports retailer in the New Orleans area.

It's weird that they make some gloves lighter and some about the same. Some of my meshbacks are WAY lighter than the all leather ones, but others like that PROAR13 are about the same.

I don't know if its an issue of cutting costs of what, but my gamer meshback is in immaculate shape still and its one of the lighter ones. I would say its more of a change in marketing since ballplayers want softer gloves right out of the box. We all know how Rawlings likes to market what their players are wearing. If they can save some money in the process, of course they're gonna do it. Just look at all of us wanting that PROAR13 for either just the web, the web and mesh or just because it's A-Rod's gloves.

Being somewhat in the retailers end of things. I can't remember the last time any product when down in price.

Well, there were one or two items...but not field gloves. No matter what the vendor did to the product.

Last year $149

Goldy the Gopher wrote:cost on mesh gloves is less than leather gloves. The markup is higher. Thus you shouldn't be mad at Rawlings, but rather the retailers who seem to be making higher margins on cheaper costing gloves.

It is hard to blame retailers much. Rawlings has MAP pricing on most of their high end glove so they are setting the retailers price.

And now Rawlings seems to be selling gloves direct via rawlingsgear.com.

bs wrote:I just recently did some work on a black A2000 the finger tops with the superskin actually looked a lot better than the leather finger tops.

I was really surprised!

I agree. All of the A2000's with super skin that I have ever worked on have held up really well. Matter of fact my son picked up one glove I was re lacing and changing out a web for a customer and fell in love with it. It was noticeably lighter. Santa had to get him one last year and now I cant pry that glove away from him. Every now and then I'll offer him the use of a HOH or Pro Preferred but he sticks with the A2000.

To anyone that knocks super skin, I guess it all depends on what you use the glove for. If its just to play catch with or collect I can see whey people would snub their nose at anything other than all leather. But if your actually using the glove in a competitive game you look for the edge something like the super skin provides.