Are big-league ballplayers really that crazy about their gloves? You better believe it.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- When it comes to baseball players and their gloves, it's a pecking order of leather. They always have one eye on the present and one on the future. The in-between isn't forgotten, either.
The order usually goes like this -- gamer, backup glove and future gamer. For someone who plays more than one position, the order and number of gloves can become as numerous as the stars above.
The Indians' Jack Hannahan, who led American League third basemen in fielding percentage last year, has had his gamer since 2002. It's a 12-inch black Rawlings Pro MP5 model. The only time he uses it is to play games. No catch, no long toss, no infield practice. When the Indians travel, he packs it himself. He puts it in his equipment bag, places a ball in the pocket and encases it with his other gloves.
"I want to give it an easy ride," he said.
Hannahan said the glove is too old to risk in anything but a game. Marty Bokovitz, the Indians' assistant clubhouse and equipment manager, has helped Hannahan re-lace and patch it.
"Marty has been helping me get her back in shape," said Hannahan. "It's always good to have a guy who knows what he's doing with gloves. It could break in the middle of the game, and you've got to get them fixed up quick."
Hannahan has tongue depressors pushed up and into the fingers of the glove to keep them stiff.
"I push 'em up with needle-nose pliers," said Hannahan. "Break 'em off so you can't feel them. I do it just in case I get a ground ball that hits up on the fingers so it doesn't bend back. It stiffens the glove up a lot."
What would happen if the glove broke during the game?
"I'd have to bite the bullet," said Hannahan. "She wouldn't be too happy with me. I'd just have to go borrow someone else's glove until they got it fixed."
Hannahan's glove is his money maker. If he could hit as well as he fields, he wouldn't have spent most of his career in the minors. So proper glove etiquette is critical. It starts with the breaking-in period. He molds a glove by playing catch and rubbing mink oil into it.
"You try to make it yours," said Hannahan. "I'm the type of guy that once I get a glove, and I get comfortable, I don't like to stray from it."
He'll take it medium well, thank you
Bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr. was a big-league catcher for 20 years. He spent 11 in Cleveland, going to six All-Star Games and two World Series, and winning the Gold Glove in 1990. He believes steam cooking is the best way to prepare a glove for the season.
In every big-league training room there's a Hydrocollator. It's used to heat the hot packs that trainers put on player's sore shoulders, elbows and knees. Alomar tested the machine's versatility.
"The Hydrocollator has a grill on it," said Alomar. "I'd open the top of it, put my glove on the grill upside down and put a towel over it."
Then he'd close the machine and hit the on button.
"The moisture goes inside the glove and softens it up," said Alomar. "It didn't make it heavy, just softened it up. Then I'd beat it up with a bat and go catch bullpens and balls off the pitching machine with it.
"I liked to break in a glove on the first day of camp. That's the glove I'd use in the bullpens, in the games and throughout the season. The one that I had from the prior year, I'd use as my backup."
Alomar used a Rawlings glove when he played.
"They were the toughest ones to break in," he said. "They come hard. But once you break it in, it's one of the best."
Hygienic? Maybe not
Casey Kotchman spent spring training breaking in a new first baseman's glove. His last gamer was put to rest.
"It just wore out," said Kotchman, who has led AL first basemen in fielding percentage for the past four years. "The thing was like a pancake. It got all flimsy. It probably had some viruses in it."
Kotchman said it lasted a couple of years. To break in his new glove, Kotchman caught balls off the pitching machine.
"I did that for increased velocity," said Kotchman. "I try to stand as close to the machine as possible without getting killed. I don't use too many conditioners. I just take a couple of softballs and a baseball and put it inside the glove and tie it with a sanitary sock."
Treat it well, and it treats you well
Dan Wheeler has spent nine years in the big leagues, pitching in 577 games, all but nine as a reliever. In all that time, he's used the same 12-inch Mizuno glove.
"I never let it out of my sight," said Wheeler.
Wheeler had it re-laced last year when he pitched for Boston. It was Wheeler's way of saying thank you.
"It didn't need it, but I treat it nice so it treats me good," he said.
When Wheeler breaks in a glove, he plays catch and then pounds the pocket with a mallet. Other players use a homemade device that looks like a war club -- a baseball taped to the sawed-off handle of a bat. Wheeler says the mallet helps him get a deep pocket in his glove so he can manipulate the ball before throwing a pitch.
Like Hannahan, Wheeler uses his best glove only in games. He uses a Mizuno leather conditioning oil on it a couple of times a year to keep it soft and supple.
A little nighttime cuddling?
The Science Channel shows the making of a glove
Mike Sarbaugh, the manager at the Tribe's Class AAA team in Columbus and a former infielder, used an old-school approach to break in his glove.
"I always like to put a ball in there and wrap a sanitary sock around it," said Sarbaugh. "Sometimes I'd put it under the mattress and sleep on it. I think the gloves now are a little different. They're a little closer to being [game] ready.
"Back in the day, we used Leeds foot oil [an oil used for sore feet]. You have to work the glove the way you want it. You pick up certain gloves and some feel good and some don't."
Not too soft, not too hard
Lou Marson went through two or three Wilson catcher's gloves last year. He would wear out the leather laces at the bottom of the pocket on the inside of the glove. This year Wilson replaced the laces for him with a leather patch.
"We'll see if it lasts longer," said Marson.
Marson uses Lexol, a conditioner for leather car seats, on his gloves.
"Some guys put it in water, but I think it makes it too heavy," said Marson. "I put Lexol all over it and just play catch with it. I don't like to break in the hinge (lower corner of the glove that lets you open and close it) too much because it makes it hard for me to make a good clean transfer."
Marson threw out 33.3 percent (24-for-72) of the players who tried to steal against him last year.
"I try to break it in up in the pocket by squeezing it more," said Marson. " You don't want it to be a taco shell because the ball moves around a lot."
A close relationship
Steve Smith, entering his third year as the Indians infield coach, says the relationship between a player and his glove is all about comfort.
"There have been guys who have used the same glove their whole career," said Smith, who has coached Gold Glove winners Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Jimmy Rollins. "All you have to do is keep tightening the laces. ... When something fits good, you're going to keep it.
"You wouldn't throw out your best T-shirt. It just fits you right. A glove is what you make your money on. ... Guys worry about their bats, but a glove is even more important. If it doesn't feel comfortable on you, you're not going to be comfortable playing."
A player's comfort level with his glove is determined by one thing -- his ability to catch and hang on to the ball. Hannahan understands that.
"I make a living with a glove," he said. "It's the reason why I got called up to the big leagues and the reason I've stayed in the big leagues. ... To get a glove that when you catch the ball, you know it's going to stay in there, it's a keeper."
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