Glove of the Week: Mar 24 – Mar 30 (Mantle MMP)

[burker72]

Well, for a short while we were all complaining about a lack of good gloves up for auction, but it seems as if that has quickly changed. While I would not say there were any blockbusters this past week there were a number of good gloves to choose from.

I really liked the looks of this Spalding full web white fielder’s glove. The seller mentions that there is a pad sewn into the lining of the glove, but it sure looks like an asbestos lining to me. If it is, it is one of the nicest I’ve ever seen. The glove is not in perfect condition by any stretch – the seller mentions “some rips and tears in the leather”, surely the reason the price was so low. Nonetheless, I know you all have room in your heart for many “character” gloves. This one sold for $203 on 9 bids



Always reliable, brace yourself for a number of nice, but common, Rawlings models...

I’ll always be a sucker for a nice trap-eze, and it doesn’t always have to be a TG or HOH model. Here is a very nice TG36 Kubek model. I have a few of the TG24 Turley models, and these look just as nice. This one was re-laced by Kenny Jenkins. I consider this a game-model more than a display model so I’m ok with the re-lacing on this one. Not perfect, but a very nice glove for $110 on 9 bids.



Next up is a Rawlings Mantle MMP Personal Model. The glove has restored piping and a replacement patch from Kenny Jenkins. The glove is in very nice shape, and seems to be an older version with the older style Mantle signature. This was didn’t come cheap, $500 through Buy It Now.



Lastly, and maybe my favorite because of its original condition is an Eddie Mathews EM model. Maybe one of the more unique fixes, albeit unfortunate, the seller mentions that the glove has lacing repairs made with “thin wire”. Assuming that can be fixed, not a bad buy for $150 on 9 bids.



I had one of these, regret having sold it, and regret missing out on this one because at $111 it is an absolute bargain. A terrific top of the line 40s Spalding 157 model Marvel Base Mitt is a great example of the evolving base mitt.



I’m starting to think that crescent padded gloves are sometimes overpriced by the market. I’m not sure that this one is in that great of condition, yet it earned $675. However, that it can be positively identified as a Spalding tells me it must be in pretty good shape. Hard to say, this is a real baseball antique, but is it worth the money?



The bargain bin has two entries. First is a “Pro Line” Nokona JL1 Jim Lemon model The glove is in great shape for sure, but part of me just wanted to include it because it is yet another unique Nokona design. In my opinion I’d have to say that the Nokona brand features more unique web and glove styles than probably any other manufacturer.

My other “bargain” entry is this Sonnett AA2 Billy Martin model. Martin gloves are interesting, showing up under the Wilson line, Nokona, Sonnett and probably a few others. I think that the very plain back of this glove is interesting, absent of any markings at all, it almost looks like a prototype or sample model. Also, this glove is in incredible shape. Maybe more incredible is that this glove sold for $42.

[Bravosin99]

Burker-

We had waited a very long time to purchase our first crescent pad fielders glove before this buy it now opportunity came around, and were very upset when we recieved the glove in the mail. The seller, (a forum member), did not mention the glove is a VERY small childs glove...The glove will not even come close to going on my small adult size hand but does fit my eight year old daughter pretty well...

We are in the process of trying to be professional about returning the glove, but the seller, (a forum member), has not answered any of our emails after a week!!! I would think as members of this tight knit community we would have a little more respect for each other....A real disappointment coming from a member of this forum who once complained about Ebay him self....There are some really great people in this hobby and we really respect those people, but I guess this shows there still are some trust and respect issues...

Does anybody have any ideas what the next step should be???

[burker72]

I am very sorry to hear the story about your crescent pad glove. I went through a similar experience buying a white grommet lace crescent padded catcher's mitt about five years ago. The glove fits my 4 year old daughter's hand. It will be too small for her by the time she is eight.

I'm not sure I have any advice for you. I think we've all been there before, unfortunately it doesn't make this any easier. Best of luck in your pursuit of coming to a compromise.

[vintagebrett]

Tough situation because the auction listing doesn't say anything about the size and there is no return policy listed - I doubt you are going to get any help from eBay/Paypal because of that. You would hope that this situation would work out for the best but it might be one of those live and learn things. I guess this goes to show that it's always best to ask questions before buying. Good luck in trying to get this resolved.

[Bravosin99]

Brett-

You are right it is always good to ask questions...But I found the glove right when it was listed and if you hesitate even a little on a glove like that is can be gone before the seller would even see your question.

Wouldn't you think as a member of the forum and as a collector they would have mentioned that it was very small out of respect for someone else....Seems to us that this person had it in their mind the whole time that they were going to pull a quick one on someone....

[wjr953]

Bravo,
You are absolutely right. As someone that sells a lot of gloves on eBay, I take a lot of personal pride in being honest and upfront about EVERYTHING that I sell. I take multiple pictures which can be supersized and maximized so the buyer can get a good closeup look at what they're buying. I include the size of the glove and point out everything that's good or bad about it. I also offer a 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee on everything that I sell. All of this came about very early on because I got burned a number of times by unscrupulous people. There's a right way and a wrong way to do things. It's always easier to do things the wrong way and then make yourself unavailable to the unhappy buyer. It has cost me several hundred dollars to learn that lesson. Of course, this does not help your situation one bit. Also, you can probably forget getting any resolution from eBay or PayPal. Both are in it for one thing and one thing only, and that's to profit eBay, members be damned. I would really like to know whatever happened to dealing with people honestly and equitably. What is going on here? Do we really need to shaft somebody just to make a buck? Come on, whoever did this please make it right.

br

[stockbuddy]

Hey Josh, Sorry to hear about you and your Dad getting that Fielder's crescent glove and it turning out different than you had thought it to be. Hopefully the seller will try and make it right for you guys. Quite a while back, I started asking sellers about the height and width of certain gloves, because I too bought a couple of gloves that by photo appeared bigger in photo and then when I got them in the mail I was disappointed as they were just to small compared to what I thought they would be. I too like to place dimensions about a glove, especially when the gloves are not a standard style of glove.

I hope things work out for you.
Dave

[Bravosin99]

Thanks Dave and Br....We are sorry that you guys have experienced this same problem....Unfortunately ours is a $700 problem....Not saying you guys haven't lost out on a lot of money, it is just really hard to pay that much for a 7 inch glove and have it be your first example in the collection after waiting so long to get one...I hope you understand what I mean...

Dave, usually we always ask for dimensions before buying a glove but like I mentioned above we found the glove right as it was listed and figured it was a good deal and knew that it was being sold by a fellow collector... We didn't think we would have to worry about it being a childs glove because a glove collector would respectfully mention something like that with any model glove. Unfortunately with this style glove the difference from adult to child makes hundreds of dollars difference when it comes to a final price...

We appreciate everyone hoping for the best and I guess that is all we or anyone else can do in these types of situations....Just a little more difficult to take it in when the problem deals with someone in this tight knit community where there really shouldn't be a problem like this...