We called them mitts, not gloves. But they were among our prized possessions – baseball gloves. I had a toy glove until I was 10. It was a cheap piece of synthetic with not enough padding to slow down a ping pong ball. When I tried out for Little League, and I needed a real glove.
Daddy took me to a local hardware/sporting goods shop, and I found one that fit. It was signed by Chico Carresquel, a shortstop for the Cleveland Indians. I would have killed for a Duke Snider glove, but there weren’t any.
I loved the smell of my new glove, and sometimes I would just stick my face in the pocket and sniff. It kept that leather smell for several months, then it faded away.
One of the first things I did with my new glove was to create a pocket. I put a baseball in the web and secured it with twine, and gradually a pocket of sorts was born.
I made the Beckley Little League team that year, selected by the Indians, and had decent success as a pitcher. In those days, a team had to pitch a 10-year-old for a certain number of innings per week, and I was the only ten-year-old on my team that could throw strikes. I didn’t throw very fast strikes, but I got the ball across the plate. Batting was another story. When I first got in the batter’s box and heard a fast ball whiz by my head, my brain said very sternly, “If I were you, I’d stand as far away from the plate as possible.”
I followed that advice and hoped for walks, Since I wasn’t very tall, I got a lot of walks. Throughout the summer, my baseball mitt stayed by my side. I would thread it over the handlebars on my bike and ride to the pasture field that served as our neighborhood’s Yankee Stadium. We had some great games there, but the hard part was rounding up enough players. Four on a side was ideal – a pitcher, a first baseman and somebody on the left and right side of our diamond.
I don’t know what happened to my Chico Carresquel glove. I suppose a yard sale sent it packing after I went to college.
I no longer own a baseball mitt, but if I had one, I’d put a baseball in it and secure it with twine until the glove had a nice pocket. I’d sniff it before I put it on.
Then, batter up! Play ball!
