| As I sat there watching the pitcher and infielders | | | | went back into the hotel room, turned on The |
| warm up in between innings, out of the corner of my | | | | Weather Channel and restrung the lower part of the |
| eye I noticed one of the coaches just outside the | | | | web. It took about fifteen minutes and the glove |
| dugout trying to get someone's attention. When I | | | | looked great. It lasted the rest of the season with |
| realized it was my attention he was trying to get, I | | | | no problems.Now, if he had sent the glove away to |
| gave a nod. He then barked out, "Got another one!" | | | | get repaired, a fix like this would probably cost him |
| and proceeded to throw a fielder's glove at me. I | | | | anywhere from $15.00 to $35.00. This would be |
| caught it, gave it a quick inspection and knew what | | | | higher if he wanted the glove back sooner. He would |
| I'd being doing a little later that evening.Well that's | | | | also probably lose the glove for a week. If he got |
| how it has gone the last four or five years now | | | | the glove back and didn't like the results, he'd |
| when I'm in the dugout or around local baseball or | | | | probably just live with it. It wouldn't be worth sending |
| softball fields. I've repaired gloves for a number of | | | | it back out again.If his mom, dad or someone else |
| players and hence I've been labeled as "The Doctor". | | | | repaired it, (in this case I did it) the lacing required for |
| Word has gotten out over the years and I've fixed | | | | this would cost anywhere from $2.00 to $5.00. He'd |
| many gloves for small kids, big kids, adults, you name | | | | only lose the glove for about fifteen or twenty |
| it. I never realized how much people liked their gloves | | | | minutes...no real downtime! Any more adjustments |
| and I also never realized that people didn't fix their | | | | would probably be done by whoever fixed it.If more |
| own gloves when they broke, even the simplest | | | | laces are broken, it gets more expensive. Whole |
| repairs.That's how this all started for me. One day I | | | | glove relacing is around $50.00. You also have shipping |
| repaired an older Wilson A2000 from the late 70's or | | | | to pay on top of that. Plus, you'll lose your glove for |
| early 80's. It was being used by a younger girl playing | | | | a week. It really is a huge benefit to know how to |
| softball. It was her dad's glove in college. It needed a | | | | do most, if not all of the lacing repairs yourself. If |
| lot of lace work but was in surprisingly good shape | | | | you have young kids playing ball and you see a good |
| other than that. It looked great when I was | | | | number of years ahead of you, or you are a coach, |
| done.Since then, I've repaired gloves for a lot of kids. | | | | learning how to do general restoration, conditioning |
| Never charged anything, which was probably a small | | | | and relacing of gloves is a great thing.I'm not saying |
| mistake. I was just glad to get the glove back to | | | | glove repair places are bad. They're great! Most do |
| them the next day or so. I didn't think much about | | | | good work and will save your glove for more years |
| until I was looking around on the Internet about a | | | | to come. I've even recently come across a site on |
| year ago and saw what repairing gloves costs both in | | | | the Internet that offers a really good deal, with one |
| money and time. Only then did it occur to me how | | | | to two day turnaround. Of course, if they had 75 |
| much money I saved kids and parents and more | | | | gloves come in, that's a tough guarantee. Basically, |
| importantly, the glove was lost for one game at the | | | | you just have to decide on your time and money |
| most.This is what I'm getting at. If you have young | | | | budget. For nearly all of the gloves I have repaired |
| kids active in baseball/softball or are a member of a | | | | overnight or in ten or fifteen minutes, time was the |
| team or teams yourself, you should really look into | | | | big concern for the kids and parents, not the money. |
| trying to repair a few gloves yourself, in your spare | | | | They wanted their gloves for the next day.So if you |
| time. Believe me, it will come in handy more times | | | | have the time, find a few old gloves or buy a couple |
| than you think and you can save yourself and other | | | | at a yard sale and just try to restring them. It's really |
| people some money.Let me define what I mean by | | | | not that hard. And most of the breaks are very |
| glove repair. I don't mean repairing major tears in the | | | | similar, especially with today's gloves. Once you do |
| leather and the little runs of stitching in the glove. | | | | two or three, you'll be on your way to being a |
| That stuff requires more tools, leather and time. I'm | | | | "Doctor" yourself. You'll be able to do glove repairs in |
| talking about repairing the most common types of | | | | one inning and the kid will be able to use the glove |
| lacing breaks that occur throughout a season and | | | | that same game! That's the cool part. You make a |
| just relacing these breaks or retightening lace runs to | | | | lot of kids and parents happy.There is also another |
| keep the glove in its original shape and form.About | | | | part of having this skill. You can make a little money |
| two months ago at one of my son's tournaments | | | | for yourself doing this. In fact, you don't have to be |
| the third baseman's glove broke, right in the web. As | | | | a coach or even have a kid playing. Once word gets |
| you already know, tournaments have lots of games | | | | out that there is someone locally that can repair a |
| so these guys don't want to lose a glove for a week | | | | glove overnight or in a day, people will find you. |
| while also paying to get it repaired. Anyway, I took | | | | Believe me. |
| the glove and fixed it in between two games. I just | | | | |