How did you get started?

[rmiller]

One of the things that fascinates me about glove relacing is hearing how other people got into it in the first place. (People ask me all the time). It’s always interesting to hear how other people got started.

I worked for a minor league team several years ago, and there were always copies of Baseball Weekly and the like around the office. I was looking through the ads in the back, and saw glove relacing services. I thought that was awesome, and I could probably do it, as I had done my gloves since I was a kid with the relacing kits, needle nose pliers, etc.

So I started investigating- found out about Tanners and other suppliers of materials and tools, got a bunch of beaters from thrift stores and yard sales to practice, and now I do it, and I love it.

What’s your story?

[crackofthebat]

As a kid I found it fascinating to take gloves apart and relace them. I would swap webs from one glove to another and experiment with adding extra padding or removing padding. On teams that I played for, the other kids would bring me their gloves to repair the lacing. I've been doing it now for 50 years !

[wjr953]

Well, I have only been doing this for three or four years, so I guess I would be considered a "rookie". I got into this quite simply because I wanted to get some decent gloves for my two grandsons, aged 7 and 5 at that time. I had checked out a number of sporting goods stores and was shocked at the prices and disappointed with the quality. Besides, I didn't want them both trying to learn the game and break in their gloves at the same time, I thought gloves that were already broken in would be better for them. I started scouring the gloves listed on eBay, and I bought a few and started fooling around with them. I found a guy on eBay that was selling a "How To" guide on glove repair called appropriately enough "Fix That Glove". It was very helpful and gave me good information about tools, supplies, and the actual processes of re-lacing a glove. I did a couple and I liked the way that they came out, in fact I surprised myself when I saw the final product. Now I work at it 2-3 nights a week (after LL baseball season), and I have approximately 75 gloves in my basement just waiting to be re-laced and reconditioned. I am not a collector, so all of my gloves end up being sold on eBay and I donate some to youth baseball as well, mostly local kids from families that can't afford a quality glove. Word of mouth has been very good for me because my "customers" always give me referrals to new customers. I really, really enjoy doing this and I hope to be doing it for years to come.

VBR, br

[Cowboy7130]

I have only relaced a couple of gloves and can't say that I "get into" relacing all that much. The first couple were by necessity: my kid's glove last year popped a lace and he got real tired of using his backup glove! Then, I bought a glove or two on ebay and discovered that a couple of laces were broken in them. Had to fix them up!

The only total glove relace I have done is a sun-faded OR 520 Dale Murphy glove that was (and still is) something of a beater, and I used chocolate brown laces. It turned out really well!

A friend of mine is in the custom glove business here in Texas and repairs and relaces gloves during most of his spare time after work, when he is not building custom gloves from scratch. He does OUTSTANDING work! Anyway, he got into it kind of like crackofthebat did: a boy's curiosity about how things work, and a desire to do it better. He told me he found an old glove in the vacant lot where the neighborhood boys played ball and took it apart to see if he could put it back together, and lo and behold he did! So he started taking apart his brothers' gloves (which sometimes did not go over very well, I am sure!) and putting them back together, and word spread through the local Little League ... and the rest is history, as they say!

[doubleplay64]

I guess I can thank my daughter who at the time was playing softball and needed her glove relaced. I went out and bought one of those Rawlings do it your self lacing kits and did it. The thing was I enjoyed it so much I relaced all the gloves I had laying around. Then when I got into cleaning and conditioning them I got to thinking. I have always had a love of baseball gloves which my family always thought was weird. I would always be looking at baseball gloves either on line or at stores. Then I took it a step further and combined the two .
I now refurbish old baseball gloves and sell them. Mostly player endorsed models from the 40's -70's. I keep the ones I like for myself which is hard because I'm so fussy. But I love taking a glove that looks like total crap and seeing in through to completion. I look at it as those who restore vintage cars to their former beauty. I just do it with ball gloves.
And finally now my family gets it .

[spedrunr]

my 1st time relacing a glove was my own Pro-T that i bought in 1986 for $119 + tax. i couldn't afford the glove but the sunset sporting goods store in tempe allowed me to put down $40 per week until i paid it off.

I noticed that the thumb loop was too far up into the thumb hole so i took apart the heal lace, cut a 3rd hole closer to the heel and flipped the thumb loop over. i didn't know how to attach the thumb loop inside the glove because it was originally stitched to the liner. so i punched a few holes in it and ran the heel lace through the holes (i know, sounds complicated). i thought to myself that the "sueded" side would absorb too much sweat and become rotten, so i had the smooth side touching my thumb. (i think rawlings finally figured that one out later)

the lacing tool i was using was kinda goofy because it was one of those needles that had a hook and latch on one end where you were supposed to be able to pierce the lace and pull it through the hole. the discovery of the inter-lock needle has been my salvation i tell ya.

18 years later (2004) i was surfing ebay and discovered the glove section. i noticed that a buyer was buying beat up gloves and flipping them for profit. the 1st one i noticed was a spalding USA model the he was able to relace, condition and even remove the ink. i bought some cheap lace from tandy and relaced an a2000XXL. if you've ever relaced an a2000XXL, you know that there are 2 different models. one that has 2 extra lace holes in the web crotch on the thumb and forefinger. i made the mistake of taking out the laces and not paying close enough attention on the pattern. i ended up having 1 lace hole left over (to this day).

after that fiasco, i decided to sketch a picture of the glove and number the lace holes as i was removing the lace. i would draw solid arrows and dash-lined arrows to show when the lace was on the outside and when it was hidden. i keep the pictures/diagrams just in case i forget. I now use a digital camera and take pictures of the glove as i un-lace the glove

after practicing with several a2000 XXL's, XLC's, and XLO's, i've been able to pretty much memorize the patterns. the tricky part is the top of the web which i call the "criss-crossing".

i have a deep appreciation and respect for the glove designers (Latina, Clevenhagen, Tsubota et al) and how they figured out the best way to run the laces without it being redundant or excessive. i find that relacing a glove is challenging, relaxing and i get a sense of satisfaction when i can "figure out the puzzle".

of all the gloves that i've relaced, i'd have to say that the Mizuno "ichiro" style trapeze (MCL 7002BK, MZP ichiro 51, MZP 84) is by far the most complicated. i sold an MCL7002BK without relacing it because it looked too hard. I've finally gotten up the nerve to relace an MZP ichiro 51 that another seller had attempted (and failed miserably) to relace (luckily i have several Mizuno traps to use as templates in case i get lost)

and that was the cliff notes

[MTGLOVEGUY]

My lacing experience started when I tried to sell a Musial PMM model glove about 7 - 8 years ago to a local "Musial" collector who was in "dire" need of a glove for his display. I bought this glove off Ebay for next to nothing as it was pretty beat up but thought I would give him the glove as a gift as he had given me a number of items for my Indians collection. Long story short he said he couldn't display such a ratty glove in his display case and would prefer one that looked a lot better. So I took it home pulled all the laces out, cleaned it up, and must have tried to re-do the lacing 3-4 times until I finally got it to look some what like it should and then offered it to him again for 50.00 and he bought it. Although it was a struggle it did improve it's looks and I have been doing it ever since.