Utility man Jason Donald:

“The first quality glove I had was a Rawlings. It was all black, heart of the hide and it was a fastback model. I was in fourth grade. I remember the catalog I ordered it from. Alex Rodri-guez was wearing the same model. I said, ‘I’ve got to have that glove.’ “It was like $150 and $200. I begged my parents. It was a Christmas present. I had it from fourth grade [to] going into high school. I think it got passed down to my brother.”

Reliever Joe Smith:

“The glove I remember the most is a Rawlings Shawon Dun-ston model. It was my first real glove. I had it from Knot Hole League into high school. I was a shortstop, but that didn’t last very long. I ended up pitching and playing right field.

“We tried everything to keep that glove together. I had to have that glove for 10 years. I had it re-laced a couple times. I think it’s still in my parents’ basement. You get attached to a glove. You don’t like giving them up.

“I just retired my gamer in 2010 when I got sent down [to the minor leagues]. I said it must be the glove’s fault, it ain’t my fault. So I switched gloves.”

Third baseman Jack Hannahan:

“My first glove, ever? I think it was blue. I think it’s still in my dad’s garage. I got it, as far as I can remember, before I first started playing Tee-ball. It’s a little hard now. Since then I’ve had a couple of new ones.”

More Hannahan: “How do you break in a glove? I’ve heard of people dunking them in water, putting them in ovens to warm ’em up. Put a ball in there, tie it up and put it under your mat-tress. I’ve heard just about every way to do it.”

Closer Chris Perez:

“I’ve had my Nike gamer since 2009. Pitchers throw enough so you can break in a glove in spring training. Back when I didn’t get free gloves all the time, I took better care of it. I’d use shaving cream on it and kept it real nice so it didn’t get dried out.

“When I used to catch (in high school), the clay around home plate really made the glove dry. I used Mink oil on it. It really keeps a glove nice.”

Kenny Lofton, Gold Glove-winning center fielder:

“I always used a Rawlings glove, 12½ inches. I used a smaller glove than other people, but I had a deep pocket. I wanted a hard glove on the outside and a soft glove on the inside. So when the ball got caught up in there, it would stay in the soft part and the hardness on the outside would keep it from popping out.

“I’ve still got my gloves in storage. I’ve probably got about 20 of them. I might auction them off. Put them on e-bay. To me my gloves were just as important as my bats. I made my bread and butter with my glove.”

Rick Manning, Gold Glove-winning center fielder:

“When you get a glove you like, you stay with it for a long time. I didn’t go through many of them. You have one that fits your hand that you love and you stay with it. Then you have a backup.

“I used a McGregor when I won my Gold Glove. I still have it at home. That’s the glove Willie Mays used back in the day. I’ve still got most of the gloves I used in my basement. People would look at them now and say, ‘You used that?’ I’d say ‘Yeah.’ I could bring them out and show you and you’d say, ‘No, I’ll get something else.’ Hey, man, this is my glove. This is what I used.”

Right-handed pitcher Derek Lowe:

“It’s funny how people are with gloves. You get kind of married to one. You feel like it’s part of you. You’ve been out there before. It ’s l ike an old girl fr iend. It’s been with you. You talk to it on the mound. It’s like you don’t like to get rid of it.

“It’s so weird how you feel about them. They’ve been through the wars with you. We’re the only ones out there on the field. We

talked to it. We caress it. We throw it. We apologize later to it.”

Love for the gloveIndians past and present share their tales of the mitt

Paul Hoynes | The Plain Dealer

How to choose a gloveBill Lubinger | The Plain Dealer

Catchers use a larger padded mitt to protect their hand from the constant pounding.

First-base mitts are designed as large, floppy “baskets” to scoop up errant throws.

Outfield gloves are larger (12½-12¾ inches), for additional range, and have a deep pocket to secure the catch.

Second basemen use small-er gloves (11-11½ inches) with a shallow pocket to quickly field and transfer the ball when flipping to the shortstop or turning double plays. (Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan used a 10-inch glove.)

Third basemen typically prefer a glove similar to a shortstop in size (11 ½–12 inches) and web, but with a slightly deeper pocket for fielding one-handed on hard-hit balls.

Shortstops often prefer a glove slightly larger (11½-12 inches), with a standard pocket, to field one-handed when making plays in the hole and up the middle.

how they are madeAny glove, no matter the cost, involves being pieced to-

gether with sewing machines. Anywhere from 50 to 100 pieces of material, based on the size and how elaborate it is, go into making each glove. Material can range from synthetic leather, at the low end, to the finest leathers in the world, on the high end. Each glove takes, on average, eight to nine hours to make. A high-end, complex model can take as long as 24 hours. Gloves with player autographs aren’t in vogue anymore, at least on the high end. They’re known and identified by their stock number, such as the Wilson A2K.

Different positions, different mitts

softball vs. baseballSoftball gloves have a larger and deeper pocket to help

keep the ball from popping out. There isn’t a big difference between slow-pitch and fast-pitch softball gloves. Gloves for fast-pitch softball are generally a little smaller and made of better quality leather because the game stresses more de-fense. Slow-pitch gloves are mainly for rec leagues, so they’re built to be more forgiving and for use at many positions.

Pitchers usually use gloves similar to a shortstop or third-baseman, but pre-fer a web that hides the ball to avoid tipping their pitches.

RAWLINGS

NOKONA

WILSON

LOUISVILLE SLUGGER

LOUISVILLE SLUGGER

LOUISVILLE SLUGGER

LOUISVILLE SLUGGER

How to break in a glove (and how not to)

The best way to break in a glove is to play catch, and catch and more catch. Don’t wait until just before the season starts to buy a new glove. Get one early enough to get it bro-ken in and ready.

When you’re not playing catch, place a ball in the pocket and wrap it with a rubber band or some kind of tie to hold the pocket — but make sure the band isn’t so tight it dam-ages the leather.

Don’t heat your glove in an oven or a microwave. Don’t use an iron on it. Excessive heat will dry out the leather and crack or break the laces.

In fact, evidence that heat was used on a glove can void the warranty.

Rubbing your glove down with shaving cream or oil is only recom-mended in very small amounts, if at all. Leather naturally has oil. Add-ing oil or shaving cream can weigh down a glove or make it too floppy.

“What I tell people is I treat the glove like I treat my best friend,” advises Michael Markovich, glove global business director for Wilson Sporting Goods.

“I wouldn’t put my best friend under a mattress. I wouldn’t put my best friend in a car trunk.”

Bio: Age 40, lives in Parma, is a 1990 graduate of Parma High School, where he played football but not baseball; with the Indians 23 years, the last five full-time. “I’m the guy who fixes the gloves whenever anybody needs something fixed or changed or re-paired.”

Q: How long does it take to fix a glove? A: If a player wants a web redone or something tightened up, it can take five minutes or a half-hour. Gloves with complicated webs can be diffi-cult. It’s almost like basket-weaving.

Q: What tools do you use? A: A pair of needle-nose pliers and a

glove needle, which is like a thread needle only larger.

Q: How do the players break in their gloves? A: They use Lexol glove conditioner. A lot of guys use that daily to keep their gloves fresh. We also have a tool called a “glove hammer.” It’s a base-ball taped to the end of the handle of a broken bat. Players beat the pocket of their gloves with that to simulate playing catch.

Q: Any suggestions for choosing a glove? A: It’s all feel.

Q: Who uses the smallest glove? A: I think Asdrubal (Cabrera) has one of the smallest.

Q: The biggest? A: Maybe Shin-Soo (Choo).

Q: Who’s the most attentive?

A: (Jason) Donald and (Lou) Marson oil their gloves daily.

Q: Does anyone name their glove? A: Not that I know of, but I call (Jack) Hannahan’s glove “Soldier Boy,” be-cause it’s been through the wars. A lot of guys get their name embroidered on the outside to personalize it.

Q: How do they break in their gloves? A: They used to tie it off and throw it into the whirlpool, and when it sunk to bottom it was ready. Or they used shaving cream on it like glove oil. No-body really does that anymore. The gloves have become better. They’re easier to break in now. Better leather.

Q: What’s your glove? A: I have a first-baseman’s glove that I use to catch my daughter (12-year-old Lily is a softball pitcher). It’s a Mizu-no. (Former Indian) Victor (Martinez) didn’t care for it, so he gave it to me.

Q&A with Marty Bokovitz, the Indians’ go-to glove guy

SOURCES: Paul Jonff, brand manager of Rawlings Sporting Goods; Michael Markovich, glove global business director for Wilson Sporting Goods

try them onThe most important thing is that it feels like you can control it. If nothing else, don’t buy a glove that’s too big. When in doubt, go smaller. Consider the player’s ex-perience, how long the glove will take to break in, whether it’s for baseball or softball and what po-sition on the field the glove is for.

experience levelAn elite player will want (and need) a pro-style glove that lasts longer than one made for a rec-reational player. Price dictates one from the other, but so does the material. T-ball and rec gloves are made of synthetic leather. Pro-style mitts, for high school and above, are made of high-end leather, such as kip or steer hide.

break-in timeMany gloves come almost game-ready; they’re mostly broken in at the factory. Some come slight-ly broken in, and others leave the break-in entirely up to the player — the advantage being the play-er can build his or her “perfect” pocket.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHUCK CROW | THE PLAIN DEALER

Right fielder Shin-Soo Choo:

“I feel like my glove, bat, spikes are a part of my body. I play in the field so the glove and I are together. The glove is im-portant. I have to trust it. If I drop a ball, I don’t blame the glove.

“When I was in Korea in middle school and high school, I’d sleep with my glove, baseball, bat and spikes. Even my hat. Stupid me, I’d talk to them, ‘Maybe you could help me tomorrow.’ I don’t do that anymore. Now I leave ev-erything in the locker room, but I still clean bats, gloves and spikes.”

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