EXCITING UPDATE TO THE JOHN BUCK/GLOVE GUARDIAN CONTEST:
Buck himself has upped the ante… If the contest reaches 600 entries (we’re at 383 right now), he is going to throw in a SIGNED BAT to the lucky winner. SHARE WITH FRIENDS LIKE MOM TAUGHT YOU.
Also, we have confirmation that the winner will be able to choose between the black and camo styles of Glove Guardian. Here is what camo looks like:
And now, for the stories:
A good story about ballplayers and their gloves, including an awesome excerpt from the A’s Mike Gallego about the Loma Prieta earthquake that shook Candlestick Park during the ’89 World Series.
A little tutorial on breaking in a glove from Javier Bracamante, the Astros bullpen catcher:
That makeshift mallet was the real deal.
A brief debate on whether or not its OK for grown men to wear a glove in the stands. A lot of tough guys disagree, but I don’t judge a man wearing a glove. I know that if I was sitting above the dugout with a girlfriend/child, I would feel better prepared to protect her face from a smoked foul ball if I had a glove than if I didn’t. Just sayin’.
In an article about Mike Lowell mentoring Will Middlebrooks at third base, Middlebrooks said this:
“Just working on my angles at third. You have to play it at like 45-degree angles, and a lot of times I get too flat and you get a lot of in-between hops and you don’t get to as many balls, so I’m just working on my angles and staying down on the ball.”
I love when you get this type of in-depth educational stuff. I wish there was a little more, but I think what Middlebrooks is saying relates to balls hit to his right or left. He’s saying that you’ve got to be decisive at third, either attacking the ball by closing the angle and getting that short hop while moving towards first (on balls hit glove-side), or retreating back towards the shortstop/left field to get the long hop. He’s saying that he wants to avoid moving completely laterally (perpendicular to the third base line) because it limits your range and can lead to tough hops.
Here’s the first ever Nike 3-D printed shoe:
Image courtesy of Nike
Nike released this in lieu of the NFL Combine with the aim to “master the 40.” This is what Nike had to say about it: “The SLS process allows for the engineering and creation of shapes not possible with traditional manufacturing processes, as well as the ability to make design updates within hours instead of months to truly accelerate the innovation process to never seen speeds.”
In 1948, players bought their own gloves:
Source: George Silk—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Click that source for more pictures from the Dodgers 1948 Spring Training.
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