When your son was done with baseball, regardless of whenever that was, what pieces of his gear did he keep? What pieces did you keep? And what did you do with whatever no one wanted to keep?
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My son is still playing. But, I have a catcher's mitt that he used from 10U through middle school, and, a (now cracked) catcher's helmet that he used his first 3 years of high school. And, I suspect that I will be hanging on to those for a while because they're sentimental to me and he doesn't want them.
And he and I have some bats, since retired, that have we have been hanging on to because there's some memories from them.
But, there are plenty more gloves, gear and baseballs in my house. And some day a decision is going to have to be made on what to do with them.
I'm sure some of it can be sold and a lot can be given away. And, what's not worth anything will be tossed.
It's not like we haven't sold, given away, or tossed some stuff already.
Uniforms...that's another whole story. I have kept a lot of the jerseys. But, pants we have given away or tossed.
All their (son and daughter) equipment was given to Pitch In For Baseball & Softball as soon as they were done with it at every level from kiddie ball through college. They’ve kept one glove. My daughter plays softball in a lawyers league. The organization was started by a friend.
PIFBS helps give the gift of play and contributes to positive youth development by providing equipment to children around the world.
Kids kept the gloves - nothing else. I use his catchers shins when I ump now. All other gear including batting cage net - bats - buckets of balls given to the local youth league.
None. He kept zero gear, not even a glove. Every year the college seniors would throw their gloves in the equipment room pile. When my son was an underclassmen he would pick a used glove from the pile and use that for the season.
A few years later they auctioned off jerseys to fund & make room for new jerseys. My son bought his old jersey, and had it framed. He gave it to me for Father's Day a few years ago.
mine is still playing too. but we give away everything that he can't use anymore except old jerseys. no need for the neighborhood kids to go buy new stuff when he has stuff they can use. special home run balls get signed and given to people that have helped him out along the way.
This is a good topic. It reminds me of this;
https://www.independent.co.uk/...twitter-b756542.html
I feel the same way...When I see his old gloves, bats, bucket of balls, etc, it takes me back to his younger days, when he and I would go to the field and I would pitch batting practice, hit him fly balls, etc. I cherish those memories and some of that equipment takes me there. My oldest son has passed and when I come across one of his uniforms or jerseys in his closet, or his glove or bat, it really hits hard, but I will keep those forever.
Still have gloves of all three sons. There is a company that does some neat stuff with old gloves and I'm thinking of doing that for Christmas one year. Oldest son has a daughter that plays and I think he will want to give her his HS glove when she is old enough so I have kept it and I don't think he knows. Middle son gave younger brother his college gloves and now I have them. I have kept all youngest son's gloves just in case. They might be the retirement plan 
. He has all of his from college. I have kept all the jerseys and caps. The bats I use in my facility and give them away along with the catcher's gear.
The local LL got everything from when son was younger. It is available for anyone that needs something, but is unable to afford it. Since all of his HS gear is too big for LL players now, I will look into orgs like https://pifbs.org/. RJM, thanks for posting it.
We've incorporated out boys' old gear into our interior design. Our house looks like a 20-year old batting cage that's never been tidied up. I thought that's what everybody did.
Funny you should post this today. My son just moved from a house his mom and sister owned into a house with one of his buddies. He asked if he could store some stuff in my basement. Sure, why not. He brought about 6 tubs of stuff. A couple bats, 2 buckets of baseballs that we used to use to hit.....and another 50 or so baseballs that he "collected" during his college years. He was a pitcher so evidently it was a thing to collect a ball from away games.....as they either had a league stamp or a school logo on them. He thinks he has one from every league that they ever played an opponent from. He also has most of his travel ball jerseys, a jersey that our HS gave all the seniors and his letterman jackets from HS and college. Haven't really looked at all of it, but I did tell him he "may not get some of it back" lol
I am really happy that I saw this. I also keep the things I am sentimental about. I have given away all the youth equipment that got outgrown along the way. And have given away a lot of my old gear as well. About 10 years ago the Texas Sports Hall of Fame opened in Waco. It’s right next to Baylor’s ballpark. At that time I was going to Waco weekly on business and went to the HOF the week it opened. They were putting together an exhibit hall specifically dedicated to the Southwest Conference and were looking for items to display in individual school showcases. I offered to give them some items and they took me up on it. The SWC Exhibit has really grown over the years and now it is really cool. I was in Waco yesterday and had time to kill before a game so I went by the HOF. That is my hat, glove, and cleats in the picture below. Later in the day I got a call from my middle son asking me to get back to Dallas by 7 pm in order to attend a gender reveal party (not my cup of tea) at his in-laws house. I made it back just in time to find out that it’s a boy! Reading this thread reminded me that I still have the glove he used when he pitched in HS and college. My new project is to find someone that can recondition it so I can give it back to him when his son is born. I have six months to get that done. I don’t know that I would have thought of that had I not seen this thread.
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My wife has a security guy who gets her a ball from every team we play. Son signs and dates. She put them in a clear glass lamp base for me and is working on another. Pretty cool. He also bought his chair from College World Series I got it for Christmas. Pretty cool Christmas presents the last 2 years.
@smokeminside posted:We've incorporated out boys' old gear into our interior design. Our house looks like a 20-year old batting cage that's never been tidied up. I thought that's what everybody did.
That's the inside of my garage too.
@adbono posted:I am really happy that I saw this. I also keep the things I am sentimental about. I have given away all the youth equipment that got outgrown along the way. And have given away a lot of my old gear as well. About 10 years ago the Texas Sports Hall of Fame opened in Waco. It’s right next to Baylor’s ballpark. At that time I was going to Waco weekly on business and went to the HOF the week it opened. They were putting together an exhibit hall specifically dedicated to the Southwest Conference and were looking for items to display in individual school showcases. I offered to give them some items and they took me up on it. The SWC Exhibit has really grown over the years and now it is really cool. I was in Waco yesterday and had time to kill before a game so I went by the HOF. That is my hat, glove, and cleats in the picture below. Later in the day I got a call from my middle son asking me to get back to Dallas by 7 pm in order to attend a gender reveal party (not my cup of tea) at his in-laws house. I made it back just in time to find out that it’s a boy! Reading this thread reminded me that I still have the glove he used when he pitched in HS and college. My new project is to find someone that can recondition it so I can give it back to him when his son is born. I have six months to get that done. I don’t know that I would have thought of that had I not seen this thread.
Adbono that is so cool!! thx for sharing...as for the reconditioning, I use a guy in Pflugerville TX. gloverelace.com Used him for 5 or 6 gloves...he's amazing...you send the glove, he does what you want and mails it back to you..Very reasonable....he reconditions, relaces, whatever you need
@edcoach posted:Adbono that is so cool!! thx for sharing...as for the reconditioning, I use a guy in Pflugerville TX. gloverelace.com Used him for 5 or 6 gloves...he's amazing...you send the glove, he does what you want and mails it back to you..Very reasonable....he reconditions, relaces, whatever you need
Please send me his info via PM. Thanks!
Never mind. I didn’t see the link.
I have a box with a hat from every team my son has played on. It wasn’t planned, just a box for hats at the end of the season. It’s become a kind of end of season ritual, something for the future grandkids.
Adbono, who's that handsome dude at the bottom of the display?
@smokeminside posted:Adbono, who's that handsome dude at the bottom of the display?
Scott Livingstone. He was an All American at 3B for the Aggies and had a pretty good MLB career after that. He is a Dallas area guy and I used to run into him every now and then. But haven’t seen him in a long time.
@adbono posted:Scott Livingstone. He was an All American at 3B for the Aggies and had a pretty good MLB career after that. He is a Dallas area guy and I used to run into him every now and then. But haven’t seen him in a long time.
@smokeminside, only superstars have their pictures displayed. They will put anyone’s gear in those cases. Mine is in there by happenstance more than anything.
CONGRATS Adbono!!!
Francis, I think I'm like most - kept lots, memories fade or are replaced and we find ourselves much less attached than we were at one time except for maybe a few of the truly special ones. LOTS of hand-downs and donations. Sometimes sentimental, sometimes practical.
Just like kindergarten artwork... when it's no longer special to the kids as grown adults, it becomes free license to thin the herd
Keep just enough to hold some special memories but not so much that it's a space burden or requires a storage unit.
@cabbagedad posted:CONGRATS Adbono!!!
Francis, I think I'm like most - kept lots, memories fade or are replaced and we find ourselves much less attached than we were at one time except for maybe a few of the truly special ones. LOTS of hand-downs and donations. Sometimes sentimental, sometimes practical.
Just like kindergarten artwork... when it's no longer special to the kids as grown adults, it becomes free license to thin the herd
Keep just enough to hold some special memories but not so much that it's a space burden or requires a storage unit.
Thank you, sir!
Son got his first collegiate win this season. I asked if he grabbed a game ball…. He said, Pops, its D3, we need the balls for practice.
Some neat stuff in this thread. My brother is a carpenter and has his own wood shop. I didn't inherit that kind of skill. I asked him to make a display cabinet for my daughter to display all of her helmets. She has a helmet from every team she played on and her college had several changes of helmets. My brother made a display box that is incredible. It has shelves for the helmets and areas where she can display her awards. She has all of her old gloves and a few cruddy batting gloves that were special. BTW, she also has some photos and her 50th career collegiate home run ball on display. This display cabinet even has the ability to change the color of the lights in the display.
One of my baseball catchers from high school went on to have a good college career. He showed up one day with all of his equipment from high school and college including 3 top-line mitts and new college-catching gear. He donated it all to my baseball program. He also donated 3 wood bats that were unused.
We have hats from all his teams a border just below the ceiling starting from 7 on. We have a bin with all his jersey's in the garage. We've given some away for fundraisers. We also have a Cooperstown display case with a pix, the ring and a HR ball. We weren't great with HR balls otherwise but we have some of the big ones including his first professional hit and HR. We also have his HS and minor league championship rings. Girls have great hardware too.
I dont remember where we got it done, but we shipped like 16 of his youth jerseys (age 8-16) to a place that made a blanket out of them. One side is the front of the jerseys, other side the back. Really cool and I don't believe it was crazy expensive for such a cool keepsake
I can't let it go and wife won't let me so we will keep everything until the attic, basement and shed are full. I will make the knucklehead clean it out though.
I have a hard time letting go of things. My son was a big glove collector. Glove always had to sit with him on planes/travel…never packed. They were always what he asked for on birthdays or Christmas. He is saving them for this kids. I had a blanket made out of his big event and team jerseys. I have a bin with newspaper, programs he was featured in, etc. I have a retired glove he signed for me when he was about 15. I also have a display for his 3 hr balls from a single game at Cooperstown. So many great memories during this ride. Helps to balance out the current
I have all the shirts from all 3 boys' rec league teams, and hats. I guess something will have to be done with them eventually.
Baseball son's 10U rec team won the league championship, the only time any of them did it. We still have the shirt and hat hanging on the wall, still with the sweat and dirt from that championship game. Now it has several layers of dust, too.
But, his broken bats, jugs net, etc. are gone. We still have a couple of ball-buckets, and a few bats. Probably most of his gloves are in his room. He hasn't really been home for the past 2 years, I will make him clean out his room when he is.
My thing is pictures, and we have plenty of those.
My mother put all the game balls I received in LL from homers and no hitters in a huge jug. At some point when I was thirteen she asked where all the balls went. I told her wasn’t like I could drive to the sporting goods store for replacements. I used them.
Through high school she would ask if I saw the article about me in the paper or my name mentioned in a game article. I would roll my eyes and say, “I was there.”
She saved every trophy until I told her to toss them when I was in my forties.
The weird thing is she never attended any of my games in any sport until Legion regionals my last year. Then, one college game.
@anotherparent posted:I have all the shirts from all 3 boys' rec league teams, and hats. I guess something will have to be done with them eventually.
Baseball son's 10U rec team won the league championship, the only time any of them did it. We still have the shirt and hat hanging on the wall, still with the sweat and dirt from that championship game. Now it has several layers of dust, too.
But, his broken bats, jugs net, etc. are gone. We still have a couple of ball-buckets, and a few bats. Probably most of his gloves are in his room. He hasn't really been home for the past 2 years, I will make him clean out his room when he is.
My thing is pictures, and we have plenty of those.
Photos were/are my thing too (Growing up on the diamond) - I put just a few of my favorites in that Flickr album. Photos and a few select videos are my best memorabilia.
Drove to Austin from Montana this weekend with one of the chores being clean out the storage unit before heading back. There’s more stuff than I realized - Gloves from HS, Juco and D1. I especially liked the two 34” drop 0 MLB prime maple bats he used in HS. Two because they missed his birthday, and tossed in a second one at no charge. I’ll keep all the hats and jerseys for grand kids (hopefully), but what do you do with game used cleats? It feels wrong to toss them…
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@JucoDad posted:Photos were/are my thing too (Growing up on the diamond) - I put just a few of my favorites in that Flickr album. Photos and a few select videos are my best memorabilia.
Drove to Austin from Montana this weekend with one of the chores being clean out the storage unit before heading back. There’s more stuff than I realized - Gloves from HS, Juco and D1. I especially liked the two 34” drop 0 MLB prime maple bats he used in HS. Two because they missed his birthday, and tossed in a second one at no charge. I’ll keep all the hats and jerseys for grand kids (hopefully), but what do you do with game used cleats? It feels wrong to toss them…
https://blessedfeet.org
Started by a player. Great kid.
Thanks for that, I’ve emailed the organizer. They’re in Plano TX, so it should be easy if they can use size 13 cleats.
-Bill
@adbono posted:I am really happy that I saw this. I also keep the things I am sentimental about. I have given away all the youth equipment that got outgrown along the way. And have given away a lot of my old gear as well. About 10 years ago the Texas Sports Hall of Fame opened in Waco. It’s right next to Baylor’s ballpark. At that time I was going to Waco weekly on business and went to the HOF the week it opened. They were putting together an exhibit hall specifically dedicated to the Southwest Conference and were looking for items to display in individual school showcases. I offered to give them some items and they took me up on it. The SWC Exhibit has really grown over the years and now it is really cool. I was in Waco yesterday and had time to kill before a game so I went by the HOF. That is my hat, glove, and cleats in the picture below. Later in the day I got a call from my middle son asking me to get back to Dallas by 7 pm in order to attend a gender reveal party (not my cup of tea) at his in-laws house. I made it back just in time to find out that it’s a boy! Reading this thread reminded me that I still have the glove he used when he pitched in HS and college. My new project is to find someone that can recondition it so I can give it back to him when his son is born. I have six months to get that done. I don’t know that I would have thought of that had I not seen this thread.
That is freakin awesome. Congrats on the grand baby which locks you into this board for another 22+ years.