Posted By:
Al C.risafulliI love baseball gloves.
Here's a cool story. At least it's cool to me.
I've had the same baseball glove since I was about 18 years old. I love that glove. It's a Rawlings (only brand I've ever owned, save for one tryout of a Wilson A2000). I can't find it now (so I can't tell you the model), but the glove is nearly 20 years old, and no matter how well you take care of a baseball glove, eventually it breaks down. The piping is all cut up, the padding inside the glove has worn down, and it's SO well broken-in that sometimes the ball just falls out of it.
Two summers ago I got hold of my dad's old glove from when he used to play competitive softball. It had been abused over the years, and needed to be completely re-strung. So I decided that, for Father's Day, I was going to re-string and recondition his old glove for him.
Unbeknownst to me, my wife also had a plan - Rawlings had released a line of updated gloves that were based on old models from the 80s. She brought my beater glove to a sporting goods store and found a brand-new model exactly like my old glove - it's an SL120 model (I know this because it's sitting right next to me as I've been conditioning it for this season).
So on Father's Day two years ago, I presented my dad with a reconditioned glove, and my wife presented me with a brand new one. Then, my dad and I went outside in the yard with my oldest son, and the three of us played catch for hours. My son, my dad, and me. I will remember that afternoon for the rest of my life, playing catch in my backyard as the sun went down, until we couldn't see the ball anymore, my wife and my mom firing up the barbecue for dinner.
And that, my friends, is what baseball is all about.
-Al