My First Baseball Glove

[Spudboy]

During the rain delay of the Sox / Orioles game 06/30 NESN had a feature on MLB player's first baseball gloves. This made me think about my first glove. 1967, a Wilson Al Kaline outfielder's glove.

 

I'm hoping you all would like to share stories about your first glove. I'll post more about my first glove later. I know you can't wait to hear about it!

[Cocos Disciples]

The first one I distinctly remember is a brown middle infielder's glove with Nomar's signature in it.

[yeszir]

I bought it and forgot it in the trunk of my mom's car for a week in the middle of summer. That's the best way to break in a glove, I quickly learned.

[CrespoBlows]

The first one I distinctly remember is a brown middle infielder's glove with Nomar's signature in it.

 

I had one of those.

[Dipre]

1B mitt personally signed by Moises Alou as a gift from my dad....

 

I'll never forget that one.

[Spudboy]

1B mitt personally signed by Moises Alou as a gift from my dad....

 

I'll never forget that one.

 

That's so cool ! Do you still have it?

[Dipre]

That's so cool ! Do you still have it?

 

Stolen.

 

My dad was pretty dissapointed, i'll never forget it.

 

But he was pretty awesome, so a couple of good grades got his spirits back up and he bought me a new one.

 

It's really difficult to find a good LH kid's glove, specially for one as big as me, but the old man did whatever it took.

[The_Destroyah]

well the first one i remember is a rawlings fastback Ken Griffey Jr. signature series still have it somewhere too

[BigPapiEnFuego]

I think on my 12th birthday my dad got me my first glove. I still have it, there is just one problem with it... It's an A-Rod glove. The first bat I had was my dad's. His old Al Kaline bat.

[Spudboy]

well the first one i remember is a rawlings fastback Ken Griffey Jr. signature series still have it somewhere too

 

Derek Lowe still has his first glove. Now his five year old son is using it. Hold on to yours.

Imagine the expression of wonderment when your child slips his/her hand into Daddy's glove for the first time. Priceless.

[Spudboy]

I think on my 12th birthday my dad got me my first glove. I still have it' date=' there is just one problem with it... It's an A-Rod glove. The first bat I had was my dad's. His old Al Kaline bat.[/quote']

 

I had an Al Kaline bat too. It was a 28!

[The_Destroyah]

Derek Lowe still has his first glove. Now his five year old son is using it. Hold on to yours.

Imagine the expression of wonderment when your child slips his/her hand into Daddy's glove for the first time. Priceless.

 

Oh i plan on holding on to it, its still in great condition now, i just grew out of it after a couple of years.

[Spudboy]

My family moved to Newton Ma. from Louisville, Ky. in September 1966. Growing up in Louisville, no one I knew played baseball. None of the kids in my neighborhood had a glove or ball. We had never heard of Little League.

 

In the spring of 1967 my Parents succumbed to my constant pleads and bought me my first glove. A Wilson Al Kaline outfielder's glove. The man at the store told me how vital it was to break the glove in properly. I dutifully rubbed saddle soap into the pocket, put a ball in, and tied the glove with rope.

I did this for several days.

 

Looking back I think it is very odd that I never touched a baseball until I was eleven years old. Both of my children received their first gloves at four years old.

 

1967 was a magical year. I learned to play baseball. More significantly, I learned to love the game and have followed the Sox ever since.

[Dojji]

A bright red infielder's glove with Barry Larkin's name stencilled onto it in gold letters.

 

Which is fine, cool even, until it got older and faded to pink. Naturally my memories of that glove aren't particularly fond. I also tended to forget it on the lawn sometimes and it became a haven for slugs. That's fun to reach into the glove and find.

[The_Destroyah]

yeah i played church softball Junior High throughout my senior year in highschool and i made quite a few web gems at 2B with that glove, which is good because i was never much of a force with a bat, i could somewhat place a softball in the outfield but i just cant hit a 7MPH arched softball over the fence very often, but i was a GG 2nd basemen (in church league softball)

[Dojji]

Frankly, I was pretty indifferent to baseball as a kid. Just didn't have the skill to ever really get into it. I was one of those kids who grows too big too fast for his own good so I was horribly slow and uncoordinated. I also have a lazy eye, which hurts my depth perception. Add to that that I was a ground ball hitter and slow as heck, and that I had the attention span of a gnat with ADHD, and it just wasn't the sport for me. Not to play, anyway. Love it, but can't actually play the game.

 

I often wound up pitching, mostly for lack of anything else to do with me. Batting practice would be a kind description, however.

 

About the only thing I had going for me as a baseball player is that I could hit switch hit a little -- no worse lefthanded than I was righthanded anyway. Since I never faced a live lefthanded pitcher, ever, even just kicking around, that's not much of a claim.

 

And if you think that was bad, one of these days I might get going about my rec league baskeball "career."

[Cocos Disciples]

And if you think that was bad, one of these days I might get going about my rec league baskeball "career."

 

Haha me too. I'm decent at baseball (maybe because I hit lefty), but I was terrible at basketball in the year I played. Just brutally awful.

[Dojji]

I have two funny baseball stories in among all the train wrecks.

 

First one -- playing a coed game, hit a cheap little ball to shortstop, this wispy little first basewoman decided to field the throw by standing on the base. Have I mentioned that at the time I weighed nearl 300 poinds? The woman flew further than the baseball did before hitting the ground. And yes, I was safe.

 

Second one -- I was kicking around with a friend who decided to "teach me how to hit," so he put me on the mound and took his place at the plate. To show me how it was done you know. I guess his challenge got me fired up and I decided to, as they say, "try something." He wasn't expecting it and swung over the top of the pitch three times. One of the few times I ever struck anyone out.

[The_Destroyah]

oh im in the navy and we compete with other navy bases in the area in Softball, Basketball, and Flag Football and the only one they will let me play is softball ha and im not good enough to be starting at my natural position, 2B so i am the starting RF/backup 2B. Some of these guys were all-american high-school guys who just werent quite good enough to play college or get drafted so i guess im lucky to be on the team.

[Cocos Disciples]

You're in the Navy? Awesome dude, thanks.

[Dojji]

THanks for your service.

[The_Destroyah]

yeah i joined a little less than a year ago so im still pretty green, but thank you it is very much appreciated

[schillingouttheks]

My family moved to Newton Ma. from Louisville, Ky. in September 1966. Growing up in Louisville, no one I knew played baseball. None of the kids in my neighborhood had a glove or ball. We had never heard of Little League.

 

In the spring of 1967 my Parents succumbed to my constant pleads and bought me my first glove. A Wilson Al Kaline outfielder's glove. The man at the store told me how vital it was to break the glove in properly. I dutifully rubbed saddle soap into the pocket, put a ball in, and tied the glove with rope.

I did this for several days.

 

Looking back I think it is very odd that I never touched a baseball until I was eleven years old. Both of my children received their first gloves at four years old.

 

1967 was a magical year. I learned to play baseball. More significantly, I learned to love the game and have followed the Sox ever since.

 

You live in Newton, MA? Cool. I just moved from there to Needham at the beginning of last summer. Good thing I didn't go to the bank yesterday... lol.

 

Sorry, back to the topic at hand.

[schillingouttheks]

yeah i joined a little less than a year ago so im still pretty green' date=' but thank you it is very much appreciated[/quote']

 

I will third the "thanks" sentiments!

[The_Destroyah]

well all of us here appreciate the thanks more than you know, but frankly the closest thing to war i've ever seen was boot camp its those guys in Marine and Army infantry i respect, they deal with pure hell everyday in a lot of the places they send them, so if you know any be sure to tell them thanks whenever you can

[Dojji]

My dad was a navy paroll clerk aboard the carrier USS Enterprise. My grandfather served on the destroyer USS Theodore Roosevelt in WWII. I have a great appreciation of the navy and the good men it helps to make.

[The_Destroyah]

Yeah my father is a CB (an electrician for the Navy) so he actually deploys with marines alot and he has fought in both Gulf Wars and ive had a grandfather who served on a sub in WWII another one who was a pilot for the army in WWII and another who worked on helicopters in 'nam so im kind of a military brat (ironically none of them was originally happy with my decision to join)

[schillingouttheks]

Yeah my father is a CB (an electrician for the Navy) so he actually deploys with marines alot and he has fought in both Gulf Wars and ive had a grandfather who served on a sub in WWII another one who was a pilot for the army in WWII and another who worked on helicopters in 'nam so im kind of a military brat (ironically none of them was originally happy with my decision to join)

 

They may not have been happy, but I'm sure they're very proud. You're carrying on a pretty honorable tradition in your family, and that shouldn't be overlooked at all. Again, thanks for your service.

[Dojji]

Yeah my father is a CB (an electrician for the Navy) so he actually deploys with marines alot and he has fought in both Gulf Wars and ive had a grandfather who served on a sub in WWII another one who was a pilot for the army in WWII and another who worked on helicopters in 'nam so im kind of a military brat (ironically none of them was originally happy with my decision to join)

 

You had 3 grandfathers? How's that work? J/K

 

Yeah, I had 3 grandparents in uniform too. Both grandfathers and one of my grandmothers. They all found things to do that didn't involve killing people though. One of my grandfathers was an engineer in Europe with the Ninth Army, the other did something involving the communcations system on a destroyer, and I had a grandmother who was stateside fixing aircraft engines. She married the destroyer technician, and it was a running joke in the family while they were alive that she finished her military service a grade or two higher than Grandpa.

 

Didn't serve myself. Considered it though. Frankly I wasn't fit enough.

[The_Destroyah]

thats the other thing i respect more than anything else are the vets that welcome the soldiers home now since they never got the welcome they deserved after Vietnam, its an honor that a 61 yr old nam vet who was crippled for life in by a land mine still feels it is his duty to serve his country like that