Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

Hi, I was just wondering...why do you love baseball gloves? For me, I think it is the way that my buffalo Nokona's smooth leather forms just to my hand, and the comfort I take in knowing that I broke it in from a stiff rock into a supple object of affection. I recognize I take this far too far. I'm below average defensively, yet that glove is like a security blanket for me. Whenever I'm having a bad day, just to slide my hand into the butterscotch colored finger stalls is extremely relaxing. (Okay, I'm crazy). But for the rest of you, is it the smell of the leather? The memories of playing catch with someone you loved? Why do you love your glove?

For me, it is sort of a bond between my son and I - he plays baseball and I provide the means which includes equipment/gloves. After you buy a bat or two you are sort of done but gloves are so different you can keep buying/selling different ones. When I'm taking a break at work it's fun to look for a new glove. A few nights a week, we play catch in the backyard with new gloves we're breaking in. 2 weekends a month we're travelling to baseball tournaments somewhere and the other 2 are practices - so baseball is a big part of our lives!

I love the smell, the craftsmanship and that fact that they are so personal. It also connects me to the game I love and played for many years since the gloves I own are the same I used to play high school and jr. college ball 20 years ago.

--it takes me back to my youth, the days when baseball was all that mattered to me. Tossing that ball, catching that ball, hitting that ball, either in a local neigborhood game or just playing catch with my friends....I can still feel the grip in my hand and the smell of a baseball and glove against my face...I remember tossing that ball to myself, heaving it into the air, pretendinfg to be my favorite player, (Dale Murphy, because back then, the Atlanta Braves were always on TBS) catching the final out of the game, throwing it as high as I could, staring into the bright sky, shading my eyes from the sun, with a rawlings, single post in hand, I could catch anything.... nothing else mattered to me, but catching that ball and pumping my fist into the air, as the crowd cheered! That's why I love my glove, it takes me back, to that kid, who played all summer long, who dreamed of playing in the big leagues!

wickedwoman11 wrote:Hi, I was just wondering...why do you love baseball gloves? For me, I think it is the way that my buffalo Nokona's smooth leather forms just to my hand, and the comfort I take in knowing that I broke it in from a stiff rock into a supple object of affection. I recognize I take this far too far. I'm below average defensively, yet that glove is like a security blanket for me. Whenever I'm having a bad day, just to slide my hand into the butterscotch colored finger stalls is extremely relaxing. (Okay, I'm crazy). But for the rest of you, is it the smell of the leather? The memories of playing catch with someone you loved? Why do you love your glove?

I love my mitts for the same reasons. On any givin' weekend, I'll still have a catch with my brother. We're no youngbloods anymore, but what do we care? And while watching my team, (the new york mess) I'll have a catchers mitt or a 1st base mitt slipped on. And pound a ball in it during commercials. I used to do this through out my teens. Rekindled the habit two years ago after starting collecting. Something about it is relaxing & therapeutic. And the smell from one mitt to another is intoxicating. Surprisingly I haven't own a fielders glove in years. But I'm working on it. There's nothing crazy about this. It's something that's close and real to us. I see it as the "calm elation".

I think it's because gloves last through the years, and older can be better with leather products. And we value the time and effort we put in to breaking them in, getting them like we want them. That's why I've trained my kids to double-check that their glove is in their bag before departing the field, and have nametags on them (the gloves, not the kids), because stuff like bats and batting gloves are "replaceable", but gloves not so readily...

For example, last June I replaced an electric water valve in my ice maker ($43 part, made in China) because the original (1985-made, made in USA) cracked and leaked. That replacement part lasted one year and four days (electric coil overheated and burnt out), and the same place quoted me $57 for the part now, and it's at least 15 miles away. So I used the electric coil from the old one with with plastic part from the new one, had to use a hacksaw to modify its top cover becuase the spacing screw holes didn't line up, and drill one hole to mount the "old" electric coil. And it works.

upthemiddle wrote:-- pretendinfg to be my favorite player, (Dale Murphy, because back then, the Atlanta Braves were always on TBS)

Dude! Dale Murphy Rules!

For an outstanding short essay on the relationship between a good glove and a player, look for the Rawlings Glove Box Poem thread .... somewhere .... here in .... hold on just a minute, gotta go search ...

What Is A Baseball Glove?

A baseball glove is a beginning and an ending: a boy's first sure
step towards manhood; a man's final lingering hold on youth;
it is promise . . . and memory.

A baseball glove is the dusty badge of belonging, the tanned
and oiled mortar of team and camaraderie; in its creases and
scuffs lodge sunburned afternoons freckled with thrills, the
excited hum of competition, cheers that burst like skyrockets.

A baseball glove is a thousand-and-one names and moments
strung like white and crimson banners in the vast stadium
of memory.

A baseball glove is the leather of adventure, worthy successor
to the cowboy's holster, the troopers saddle and the buckskin
laces of the frontier scout; it is combat, heroics, and victory . . .
a place to smack a fist or snuff a rally.

Above all, a baseball glove is the union of father and son, boy
and friends, man and men; it is union beyond language, creed or color.

The Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, 1965

I can defintely appreciate the sentiment of this poem. As kitschy as it is,
it is no match for the sentimentality of it all. It is interesting to read why we love our gloves. The common theme seems to relate to family and friends and I am right there with you.