EVERYDAYBEFORE
hegoes towork,St.
LouisCardinalscatcher
YadierMolinaspends
at least10minuteswith
acherishedcolleague,
lovinglypampering itbecauseheknows,
comeOctober, it is theone thing thatwill
keepanotherchampionship fromslipping
throughhisfingers:hismitt.
“Ineed to takegoodcareofmygirl,”
Molinasays. “DefensewinsWorldSeries.
Ihavealwayssaid if I treathergood, she’s
going to treatmeright.”
WithaspraybottleofLexol leather
conditionerand twosmall, tatteredblue
towels,Molina’sdailyroutine includes
maintaining thesamemodelmitthe’shad
hisentirecareer, aRawlingsSCM41JB—
thesame typeofgloveonceusedbyhis
manager,MikeMatheny.Noactiveplayer
haswonmoreconsecutiveRawlingsGold
GloveAwards thanMolina’ssevenat
catcher, andnoone inNationalLeague
historyhasmore inningsbehind the
plate in thepostseason thanMolina’s732
2/3entering thismonth.Molinaknows
well theholdagoodglovecanhaveona
postseasongame—andon itsowner.
Howspecialisaplayer’sbondwithhis
glove?Duringtheearthquakethatshookthe
1989WorldSeriesinSanFrancisco,Oakland
AthleticsinfielderMikeGallegore-entered
theevacuatedclubhousetograbhis.
“Guysaren’t loyal toonebat.An
0-for-4and they’regoing to tryanother
one,”saysMichaelThompson,Rawlings’
executivevicepresident formarket-
ing. “Aplayerspends time forminga
glove, shaping it. Someplayersdon’t let
anybodyelseputahand in it—oron it.
Aglovegetsapersonality to it. Insome
DefenseWinsChampionships
HowRawlingshelpsbaseballplayersdeveloparelationshipwith theirgloves
AMERICANWAY
OCTOBER2015
83
SPORTS
ByDerrickGoold
ILLUSTRATION
ADAM NICKEL
“Someplayersdon’t letanybodyelseputahand in it—
oron it.”
