Has your passion for gloves ever irritated your wife?

[rmiller]

Ever since I was a kid I have been fascinated with old catchers mitts- I just love ‘em! I have a few, and I told my wife I would like to get a little more into collecting them. “That’s great”, she said. “Having a hobby is a good thing; just don’t get too crazy with it.” “Getting crazy with it” could mean financial, time, and a number of other things.

A co-worker of mine is a big collector of particular items, and he admittedly is late for meetings at work because an auction is ending on ebay shortly, and he sits in his office hitting refresh, until the auction is over. So it clearly affects his work.

Now I assume none of you were late to your own wedding or missed the birth of one of your children because of a baseball glove (I hope), but I ask if you have any funny stories that may serve as advice for a new collector about the wife being a little miffed because of your glove obsession. Do you ever get "too crazy with it" to your wifes dismay?

[Centerfield]

I've heard some funny stories, one in particular at a live Hunt Auction where a guy was bidding on a 19th century piece (think it was a trophy ball, but can't remember exactly). It surpassed his limit, so he got up to walk around and stretch his legs before the hammer fell. As he strolled away from his chair, he noticed his wife was bidding higher on the item! He sprinted back to his seat to stop her as it passed five figures! She didn't win it, but his reaction had to be a riot to see. She said to him that it was so pretty she really wanted them to have it!

Personally, my wife knew about my glove habit long before we were married. She didn't want me to sell some of my gloves in the past, but we had other plans so liquidating was appropriate at the time despite her saying I'd regret it. Well, now I truly regret it and should have listened to her. As I once again build my collection, she's only concerned about its size. She'd rather me have a handful of expensive gloves than hundreds of lesser priced ones... which is fine by me!

[vintagebrett]

My wife does not mind my collecting that much. She enjoys going to antique shows once in a while with me because she likes to look at furniture, advertising pieces and other things. My mother in-law was visiting recently and she commented that she thinks I have enough gloves and really don't need anymore. I told her that once I catch up in number to the amount of clothes my wife has I'll call it day!

[wjr953]

My wife does not get irritated at all with my glove inventory. In fact she encourages my love of restoring and re-selling gloves. She finds it very interesting and she thoroughly enjoys the before and after comparisons. I can't really say that what I have is a "collection", because I'm not a glove collector per se. I buy, re-lace, re-condition and re-sell gloves. My current inventory is between 80-120 gloves in various states of disrepair. It's a hobby that I got into quite unintentionally, but I really love doing it. She knows how much I enjoy working on my gloves and she's happy that I'm happy. A win-win situation!! I certainly couldn't ask for anything better than that.

br

[MTGLOVEGUY]

hmm, interesting topic, the only time it becomes a problem is when I spend 8 hours cleaning gloves and leave all of the cleaners and laces and so on strung through out the house, or in the event of me listing items on ebay and the gloves are piled on the kitchen table for days upon days as if the table was my new desk simply because it is closer to the "big" tv and ESPN, there are also times when a trip to the grocery store is an inconvienece but a trip to the mail box isn't !! However she loves the gloves when they are gone and the ebay money allows her to get new shoes! She loves them all and all!!

[wickedwoman11]

I'm lucky...my spouse doesn't mind that I love gloves. I just usually get teased that my beloved Nokona glove is going to end up being held for ransom someday. And I get eye rolls every once in a while...

[offsidewing]

Shoes and Handbags or Ball Gloves and Hockey Sticks.

I have begun to play ball again this summer (alas the absence from this forum because of it) and I've picked up a couple gloves to replace some that were stolen or foolishly given away in my college days 10-12 years ago.

Just like I don't understand why she needs 12 pairs of black shoes, she can't understand why I need one glove to play third or another to play second. Then a completely different glove when the boys are work roped me in to play softball. She understands the differences between bats, which is odd. However, she is an engineer...

[ebbets55]

It's quite different at my house. My wife exclaims, "You want to spend how much on a glove?" "Fine, but I get a new kitchen." The Cobb cost me a new kitchen. My Matty cost me crown molding and baseboards. I just have to plan on every glove costing more than twice as much. Simple as that.

JD

[Centerfield]

The Cobb cost me a new kitchen. My Matty cost me crown molding and baseboards.

JD

Hahahaha... classic!!! Smart woman!!!

[jackwhale]

I love my wife but....when the pile of gloves in the guest bedroom gets too large she tosses them out the window in front of the garage. I did promise to keep them all in ONE place--the garage. She says its just a subtle hint to keep them ALL in the garage. Not so subtle.

I made a mistake one time in saying, "These are valuable-you have to be careful with them. Do you know what they are worth?"

The result of that comment is the same as JD--We just finished our new kitchen.

[s_esco]

What is wrong with you guys. In my house, I am the boss. My wife lets me be the boss.

[jackwhale]

probably a lot of new kitchens on this board.

s_esco--I like the understanding you have.

[Studboy]

I hope my wife never reads this board, she might get new kitchen ideas!