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My daughter was getting her work in yesterday when I commented on how nice her glove is. She has a Nokona glove that is softer than a baby's butt. It is her first softball glove and we wanted to buy her the best glove we could afford. (When she started, she used my old gloves.) She asked about my gloves. My Gloves? Wow! Gloves are very personal. I started with a glove for lefthanders that was left out in the rain. I'm right handed but we couldn't afford a glove and I found that one. My brother and I saved our paper route money and bought each other a Spalding Carl Yastrzemski Model Glove. Cost $11. After a while, I saved up enough money to buy an "XPG3" Rawlings. Anyone remember them. Yup-Heart of the Hide. Now, that's when you knew you had a good glove. The "XPG3" soon became the Pro3. This was my HS Glove. I had that glove forever. It had holes in the pocket ... and attempting to turn a DP, I got my finger caught in one of those holes (ripped the glove up) and so I had to get a new glove. Opted for another Rawlings Heart of the Hide 12 inch with an H-Web. This was my college glove and the one I began playing softball with. My Daughter used this as her first glove although it was torn and tattered. When I started coaching, I bought that model glove again. It was called "death valley." Anything that went in didn't come out. When we won the state title in 1990, one of my players was using that glove. He made a diving catch to enable us to win. I gave that glove to him and he had it bronzed. Back to the old glove. I won an Easton Glove for being "All World" defensive player of a national tournament in Indianapolis. Nice glove but didn't use it. It didn't feel like the Rawlings. Guess I'm set in my ways. I gave it to a senior baseball player who had earned my respect. I bought another Rawlings. It is now on it's last leg. I'm getting kind of excited. I think I'm going to get a new glove this year.

Any Glove Stories out there?

"Failure depends upon people who say I can't."  - my dad's quote July 1st, 2021.  CoachB25 = Cannonball for other sites.

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Western Auto sold gloves. Anyone remember that? I cant remember what the brand name was I think it was Spalding? My first (real glove) was the one I played with in HS. A Rawlings fastback. Now that was one sweet glove. I still have it (whats left of it). In my day a glove was so personal. I guess because it was such a big deal to get one. I remember looking at other kids with utter disgust when I saw them throw their glove or leave it behind somewhere. How could they do that to their glove? I passed that mentality on to my kids. Your glove is an extension of you. There are so many memories in a glove and a bat. I still have every bat that my sons played with and glove. I cant seem to part with them because they all bring back so many memories when I look at them. One day I will pass them on to some younger kids. Maybe? Sometimes I just love to take out my old glove and just smell the leather. There is just something special about the smell and the feel of an old glove. Maybe Im crazy I dont know. Thanks Coach for making me think about this again. It sure brings back a great bunch of memories.
Nice stories...
When my son was eight I bought him the best Wilson A2000 I could find. $208.00. I snuck it in past his mother and never told him how much it cost ...UNTIL.... He was playing in a fall league in the city park that had one field called Lions Field. Lions field is old with real dugouts. Kind of picturesque from an era when I was a boy. They would play games every night of the week and each team would play two games a week for about a month. He played on Tuesday and Thursday. The games were short (4 innings or so) with a time limit so they could have as many games as possible. One Saturday at our home he wanted to play catch so he went to get his glove from his bag..Not There...Gone...Stolen..Lost. He had left it at Lions Field. I chewed him out and he cried. No wait, I’m the stupid one for spending $208.00 for a glove for an eight year old. “Tell you what son, You know that old black glove you hate, the one from Wal-Mart? You will use THAT glove until you graduate from high school!” I called everyone from the person that flips hamburgers at the concession stand to the director. No one had turned in a glove.
Five days after the game where he and the $208.00 glove parted ways, he’s playing in the third inning at Lions field using his old black Wal-Mart Glove. Suddenly he emerges from the dugout waving a brown Wilson A2000 for me to see. It had fallen behind the bench of the dugout. I can’t read his lips but I know by the smile he’s saying. “I FOUND IT”!
Fungo
Coach May, thank you for your story. I also just sit and smell the gloves sometimes. Must be something about still wanting to be around the game. Fungo, my close friend Jim Austin used a Wilson A2000. We'd sit around and argue about which glove was "the best." Thanks for making me laugh reflecting on those arguments.

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