May 23rd, 1934 - Book Review - Glove Affairs

Glove Affairs
by Noah Lieberman

Triumph Books, Chicago, IL
150 pages inc. index

Glove Affairs is a short, but fairly wide ranging look at the baseball glove. It contains the history of the evolution of gloves, stories about players and their relationships to their gloves and a look at the glove repair and collecting industries. For instance, players generally left their mitts on the field when their team was at bat until the mid 50s. It also contains information about purchasing one, breaking it in and maintaining it. Finally, it provides a good overview of how glove companies do business with the players who wear and sometimes endorse them. In short, there's something for nearly everyone.

I say nearly because one area where the book falls down is its discussion of the baseball glove industry. While it has a good overview of how the glove emerged from little more than padding for a bare hand to the coming of the Wilson A2000 in the late 50s (still more or less the "modern" glove), it contains very little about the individual companies and the various models they sold. For instance, it would be of little use to a collector as it mentions only a few models. We're never told, for instance, what would make a player choose one make or model rather than another, or which are of most interest to collectors and why, although the book does have a short chapter on collecting. The book does, however, contain a good deal of what players look for in terms of attributes and which positions warrant various design aspects.

If you're not familiar with development, legends and lore of the baseball glove, it's the ideal place to start. In addition, it has plenty of useful information regarding maintaining and repairing your own glove. At 150 pages (including index), with numerous pictures and a wide spread type face, its a quick read. Its most glaring omission is the lack of a bibliography or footnotes, making it difficult to know whether to find further information on a topic.

Rating: ***/**** (worth purchasing used)