Post 1,000: One of the best investments I ever made

When I was a kid I used to love to play catch with my dad. It was fun, quality time that we spent together, bonding in that special way that only a father and son can do. He bought me a Wilson Jim Rice autograph model glove which I used for my little league years and up until my birthday in 2002, when K bought me the glove I presently use. As I got older, I would ask my father to play catch and more often he would say no, that he had other, more important things to do. Of course, he didn't always say no, but the times he said yes got fewer and farther between and I missed that sense of togetherness we had.

When M was born in 1999, I hoped that one day he would ask me to play catch with him, just like I used to ask my dad. When he was still a baby, I bought him a cute little kiddie glove at Building 19, holding it aside for future use. When M was a toddler and we had the house in Merrimack, I would take him outside into the street (we lived at the end of a dead end street, so traffic was never an issue) and I would lightly toss him a ball and he'd always miss. I wondered then if he'd ever learn to catch a baseball. We were bonding and having fun (or at least I was having fun).

Naturally, when this day came, I was excited and ecstatic - the realization of a dream I'd had since long before I became a dad myself.
For the rest of that summer, M and I would go out behind the apartment and play catch, usually for 15-20 minutes at a time. The more we played, the better M got with his throwing skills. Catching the ball was still a hit or miss prospect. We had fun every time and life was good.

During the course of the summer of 2007, I found my old baseball glove and thought M might be able to use it - but the lacing had broken due to wear. That sucked. M is going to need a bigger glove soon, I thought. Should I buy him a new one? Maybe I can get the old one re-laced? Who does baseball glove re-lacing, anyway? Certainly a new glove would be the cheaper option, but than what will I do with this old glove?
Yup, re-lacing was the way to go.

Fortunately these days you can find just about any service or company you want on-line. So I went to the trusty old Google page and typed in the search for "Baseball Glove Repair." Sure enough, the top listing that I found was this site. Good enough. After checking it out, looking at before and after pictures of old baseball gloves brought back to life, a picture of the lace colors to choose from and checking the prices, I decided it was worth the chance to send my glove there (the company is located outside of St. Louis) and have them re-lace it. All together it cost me around $60.00 for a complete re-lace job including shipping/handling. Their web site says they can turn around a glove in about 10 business days, sometimes less. Sure enough about 10 days later I had my glove back, with brand spanking new black lace. And what a quality re-lacing job they did! The glove is good to go for another 20 years!

Towards the end of the summer, I told M about my old glove and that I had it re-laced for him. He tried using it but said it didn't fit his hand too well. No worries, I thought - he'll grow into it.

By that point, V had shown some interest in playing catch with M and I, more so I think to be included in our activity than any real interest in it. What was I to do, since I had no old glove for her to use? Even if I had an old glove for her she couldn't use it, since M and I are both right-handed and V is not. Simple enough - one Friday night we went to the Sports Authority and I bought V her very own lefty glove. V doesn't play catch with us very often, but I always ask her and even if she doesn't want to play, she knows that she can. The option is always open to her and that's what matters.

Sure enough, in the spring of 2008, M started using my old glove - his new glove - and he loves it. I can't tell you how many hours we've gone outside to play catch or what a simple pleasure it is to spend time with M, throwing a ball back and forth.

Now that the spring of 2009 is here and the piles of snow are gone, we've been outside the last few weekends playing catch. Every time we go outside to play and I see him use the glove, I smile inwardly to myself, and think, 'how cool is that?' That my son will use this glove for the next ten or fifteen years, until his hand outgrows it - and one day, possibly give it to his son to use.

Sixty bucks invested and I've now got a great family heirloom that can be passed down through the generations to come.

About two weeks ago, my dad found his glove on a shelf in the basement, with it's own set of broken laces. Knowing what excellent work they did on M's glove, he sent his glove out for re-lacing, and just this week he got it back in the mail - good as new!