I continued on with my baseball and coaching my sons travel team. I had to get out my 25+ year old Rawlings. It was awesome and worked great, back in the day! I retired the old guy about ten years ago. For anyone who plays the game, you get a custom to how a glove feels and works. In my case, I felt naked and had no confidence using my old glove. For a baseball player, this is the worst feeling you can have on the baseball field.
My new glove search started by looking at all kinds of gloves in stores, second hand shops, fellow teammate gloves, and online search. I tried to do the best possible research, to ensure my new glove purchase would be a good one.
I looked at Wilson, Mizuno, Akadema, Nokana, Rawlings, Nike, Easton, and SSK. These are all large, high profile glove manufacturers. Lets call them the "Big Boys"! These gloves are readily accessible in stores. Their is not much opportunity to create your own style or glove design. A couple manufacturers offer it but it will cost you bookoo dollars! Huge cost is a major negative in my book!
Some of the gloves felt good and some not so much. Some of the gloves were "very" pricey and others were "affordable". You all get me on the cost statement! None of the gloves were good, both in feel and affordability. It was one of two things, the glove felt good but was too darn expensive or the glove was in my price range but didn't feel good.
Not satisfied with the "Big Boys", I changed my search to lesser known, lower profile manufacturers. Lets call them "Micro-Brew" size!!!! I looked at manufacturers like Rico, Valle, 44 Gloves, Salinas, Guerrero, Brett Brothers, Vinci Pro, and Barraza. The main problem with these manufacturers is the limited accessibility to their gloves, prior to making your purchase. These gloves are not in chain stores, so if you don't live within a few miles of the company, you're not going to be able to try on the gloves. So, the "how they feel" is out of the question.
All of these "Micro-Brew" companies were searched on social media and web site links. The key thing in this search, you have to read customer reviews!! You have to look at "ALL" the reviews!!!! This is difficult for a few reasons: first, everyone has different ideas of how a glove should feel; stiff, loose, over sized, undersized, etc. Second, you cannot be sure if the glove is good or bad because the person tells just the pros or just the cons. Some reviews are all "Spectacular" "Awesome" Excellent". Some reviews are "Bad" "Terrible" "Trash". Very few reviews had pros and cons. Lastly, are the people being sincere or just simply trying to get noticed by the manufacturer???!!! (Clearly, I'm not trying to get noticed. This is taking a lot longer than I expected!!!)
The best part of purchasing a glove from the "Micro-Brew" guys, "YOU" get to "DESIGN" your own glove. You can choose all the colors, lace style, web style, binding style, single stitching, double stitching, add your name or nickname, use block lettering or cursive, and add flags patches, of just about any state or country(some companies offer the flag deal, not all). I think you get my point. I believe having the ability to create your glove gives you a much better perception of you picked it out, you designed it, it's going to be awesome!!!
After about four weeks of trying on gloves, talking to others about gloves, and researching, I finally made a decision. I decided to purchase a glove from a "Micro-Brew" company. Let me say, this glove purchase has been the most in depth, nerve racking experience of all my glove purchases, EEEEVVVEEERRR (Squints scary story voice!)!!! A "Leap of Faith" in my mind!
Price wise, the "Micro-Brew" are pretty comparable to the "Big Boys". The "Micro-Brew" guys are a bit less and have flexibility of price without sacrificing quality. We have all seen the "Big Boys" mesh and plastic "cost effective" (cheap) gloves! "Micro-Brew" guys don't make those "cheaper" types of gloves.
My "Leap of Faith" purchase was with 44 Gloves. I used their design tool, created a glove, and made my purchase. They were having a Black Friday sale, guaranteeing delivery before Christmas, if you purchase before or on Black Friday. I didn't get my purchase in until a couple days after, so my glove was not guaranteed to be to me by Christmas. I was told they would do the best they could and it was no problem with me.
My big surprise showed up on December 23rd and it is "AWESOME"! The glove feels "Great", it smells "Excellent", and looks "Spectacular"!!! (A little indulgence because it's my glove!!)
Here is a multi-view picture. I love it and it's me, to a "T"!
My reaction the day the glove arrived. I had to get a gooood smell of the leather!
(My girlfriend's 11 year old son, Sean, pointed out that I couldn't use it to pitch with because of the white! Good thing I don't pitch and play the outfield!!!)
44 Gloves -- Thank you sooo much for getting the glove to me before Christmas! Once I am able to get out and use it, I will post a better review of how the glove performs. So, don't think it will all be "Pros"!!!!
Twitter handle ~ @44ProGloves
Web Site Link ~ http://44progloves.com/
Thanks all and Cheers From the Cheap Seats!
