Sunday, February 3, 2013

What a catch!



Today we celebrate our three year anniversary; sure three years isn't long, but in this day and age I think it is something to be proud of - additionally, I think I remember hearing a statistic about if you can survive the first three your chances of staying together improves immensely.



What a catch my wife is - she puts up with all of my crap and to be honest I am barely more than a partially house-broken grizzly bear. That being said I commend her on her constant battle to keep me and my friends in line, out of jail, and are current status as respectable citizens.



All and all, she loves baseball too, and one of our ongoing hobbies is treasure hunting, we scavenge local estate sales, thrift stores, antique malls, and garage sales hunting down vintage baseball artifacts. Mostly gloves, balls, and bats.



Below is a 1940's Nokona mitt - this old guy was in horrible condition when we found it, but a few cans of Mink Oil brought it back to it's youthful state. The ball itself isn't old, actually it's only a few years old - my wife shipped my glove and a box of balls to me and my platoon in Iraq - the ball got nasty quick because most of Iraq's soil is naturally oily and tends to soak into a leather ball pretty quick.


 
 
 
 
 
In the display below is a unknown brand glove we found yesterday at the fairgrounds year-round antique barn - I paid five dollars for it along with a very used sandlot ball - shown later on. This glove displayed with my grandpa's 1956 Baseball Yearbook along with a game ball he got in 1980 in a 10-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. To spice up the display, and to be true to the times, I put a 1956 Topps Gus Bell card.
 

 
 
 
 Above is the old ball that came with the five dollar glove - it's in bad shape and has been repaired half-a-dozen times - if only this ball could talk.
 
The next glove is a 1950's Hutch Duke Snider model - good shape and looks awesome. It sits around with an old DiMaggio store model bat that we also scored at an estate sale.
 
 
I always wonder who these gloves belonged to, how many errors they have seen and how many robbed home runs they have committed - either way, they have withstood the test of time and represent a common interest between my wife and I - treasure hunting.
 
 
So here is to the last three years, many more to come, a bunch of baseball games, and who knows what other treasures we'll come across in our future.

 

 
 
 
 
 

6 comments:

  1. Very cool stuff. The box with the 1956 collection was a brilliant idea.
    Two years ago I had a chance to buy a baseball glove and ball at an estate/yard sale for ten bucks and turned it down. To this very day I kick myself for not buy those.

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    1. I will take a day wiser and ten dollars less any day of the week - The best thing about vintage baseball mitts, you just get that feeling, you just know, the glove has a special past, it's unmistakable -

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  2. Great stuff and Mazel tov on the anniversary.

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  3. I would love to get my hands on a few gloves from the 50s. There are a couple on eBay (a Kluszewski - http://www.ebay.com/itm/1950s-Ted-Kluszewski-Cincinnati-Reds-3-finger-BIG-KLU-baseball-glove-mit-/181074303172?pt=Vintage_Sports_Memorabilia&hash=item2a28de98c4 and a Greengrass - http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1950S-WILSON-A2153-JIM-GREENGRASS-BASEBALL-GLOVE-LEFTY-CINCINNATI-REDS-/370652161183?pt=Vintage_Sports_Memorabilia&hash=item564c97249f) that I would like to get, but the price is a little too rich for my blood. Nice pickups!

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    1. That's a pretty unique glove - I love the big klu stamp. That seller knows what he has, the best gloves are found in basements and garage sales but usually need some TLC and 10 bucks worth of oil or saddle soap.

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