If you’re like us, you would love to get your hands on the kind of custom gloves MLB players wield. For people like us, there are a handful of custom baseball glove makers - and now the market place just got a little bigger.
Heavyweight sporting goods manufacturer Wilson has just launched a website offering custom baseball gloves. We can’t wait to check it out. And just in time for Christmas!
Ok, we know that Gold Glove voting is subjective at best - but still, we were shocked to see Brett Gardner get passed over.
ESPN’s Mark Simon writes a compelling argument for awarding Gardner the AL Gold Glove for LF, and there’s a nifty graphic (courtesy of Ben Jediovec at Baseball Info Solutions) that shows just how much Gardner’s deft glove work surpasses the MLB average for his position. Worth a read.
We’re big fans of Japanese baseball - spend some time in the land of the rising sun (or perusing YouTube for NPB highlights) and you’ll become a fan too.
Now they’ve stepped it up a notch by standardizing game balls - every ball is made to the same specifications by one manufacturer.
The same ball for every game played by every team - why didn’t MLB think of this?
We know guys like this: totally unflappable. A foul ball careening your way while you’re chatting on the phone? No problem.
We think he’s talking to someone who is watching the game on TV - notice how he holds the ball up to the camera?
We can imaging him saying, “No, keep going. I’m listening - I just had to catch a foul ball.”
The story behind Nokona baseball gloves is really interesting, and it’s good to hear their business is on the rise.
Here’s a “Did you know” for you: Nokona doesn’t sponsor players or teams, but one MLB player still uses Nokona gloves: Jeff Fulchino of the Houston Astros.
Here’s a really interesting story about Babe Ruth visiting a baseball equipment manufacturer in 1916. We especially like the Babe’s quote about being better at hitting baseballs than making them.
Good stuff!
We’ve always been fond of American-made gear, but it’s hard to buy American when the market is dominated by foreign-made gloves - many of which are high-quality gloves at reasonable prices.
That’s what makes this story about Insignia Gloves so interesting. We’re looking to try one out. If you’ve tried an Insignia glove, we’d love to hear from you.
If you saw the news coverage of the San Francisco Giants’ recent visit to the White House, you may have noticed the cool custom glove the team presented to President Obama.
Now you can get the story behind the story, how the custom gloves were conceived of, ordered and manufactured on short notice for the event.
For baseball players, taking care of your hands is important.
Check out this article about the woman who invented a protective mitt for players to wear inside their regular gloves.
Catchers especially love this inner glove, but it’s got fans all over the field.
There’s a nice piece in the LA Times on the special relationship between a baseball player and his glove.
The writer really gets to the heart of the matter. We especially like the quote from Angels catcher Bobby Wilson, referring to a player’s glove: “If you’re a samurai, it’s your sword.”
Good stuff!
