Tag: mlb

Day 2 of 2026 baseball book reviews: Smell the glove, feel the love

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“The Finest in the Field®:
A History of Baseball Through 50 Iconic Gloves”

The author: Ed Wheatley (forward by Johnny Bench)
The details: Rizzoli USA Publishing, 272 pages, $45, released March 24, ‘26
The links: The company website, publishers website and Bookshop.org

A review in 90 feet or less

A baseball glove company from the tiny town of Nokona, Texas (population: 3,236) appears to legally sell something it calls the Elephant E-1200C 12” Closed Web Pitcher Glove.

Stomper, the official elephant mascot of the Sacramento/Las Vegas (former Oakland, Kansas City, Philadelphia) Athletics.

It’s made of actual elephant.

Oh, now you’re all ears.

In the product details, it notes: “All skins have CITES tags, meaning they were harvested in an approved program and comply with the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES).”

Yes, your glove was “harvested” with oversight from … check the citing.

It also explains: “Elephant leather is one of the most durable materials used in our baseball gloves. Its dense fibers resist stretching and tearing, which allows the glove to maintain its structure season after season. Over time it breaks in beautifully, developing a unique patina while staying strong—making it a glove that can last for many years of play. Instead of Elephant leather wearing out, the glove gradually softens while maintaining its structural strength, giving it a broken-in feel without losing its shape.”

A “patina” is, by definition, a gloss or sheen as a result of aging.

So, we’re calling this “elephant leather”? Something often used in that part of the country for boots and belts, pool cues and holsters.

Asking price on the glove: $1,500. Personal engraving, add $80. Glove conditioner, add $20. If you want them to shape and break it in, add another $50. At least it’s made in the U.S. No tariffs, no problems.

It is probably not suitable for leaving in the trunk of your car. Please don’t tell the kids who have a relationship with the Athletics’ current mascot. And where are all the cows hiding in Texas these days?

It feels like decades since we last purchased a new baseball glove, so excuse our queasiness finding out that not only things other than a steer’s pelt are being used for corralling a stitched-up ball, but there are also a confusing number of companies cranking them out.

A well-oiled machine like Rawlings would never venture out past the pasture that has made for its fortunes and worship faux idols to appease the finicky masses, right?

Dick around at Dick’s Sporting Goods these days — are there any other chain sporting good stores left to shake us down? – and find a composition of mitts from companies from Akedema and All Star to Zett, with Emery, Gloveworks, Jax, Marucci, Miken, Mizuno, Nike, Shoeless Joe, Stinger, SSK, Under Armor and Vinci in between. All looking for that extra edge when up against the grandads of a Rawlings, or its otherwise chief rival Wilson and MacGregor. BaseballGloves.com lists more than 40 glove companies, including L.A.-based Buckler, Soto in Signal Hill and 44 Pro in Poway.

And don’t overlook the new-ish New Balance A2KSO17 model that Shohei Ohtani has during mound visits these days (with an assist from Wilson). According to those who offer such a glove on eBay.com, the production run was limited to 50 and they run for $15,000. Go ahead and add it to your watchlist.

At the reputable website called JustBallGloves.com, its list of the top-rated models for 2026 include a Nokona Alpha. Our elephant hunters. It has bulled its way into the top-tier mix with the Wilson A2000 and A2K, Rawlings Heart of the Hide and REV1X, All-Star Pro Elite and the Easton Professional Collection.

In regards to the Rawlings models, JustBallGloves accentuates how the soft, deer-tanned cowhide is still used for the palm lining to go with its pro-grade lacing. It also says: “When you see the snorting bull in the palm of a baseball glove, you know right away that you’re looking at a Rawlings Heart of the Hide.“

The site has a Rawlings Heart of the Hide Yadier Molina catcher’s mitt for $350. Its also has a Croc Skin model (it’s really steer hide) that can go for $330. The Pro Preferred REV1X series with lighter, tighter grain kip leather, can go beyond $400. Something more for a Little Leaguer? Expect to pay up to $100.

They all, of course, now come in an array of rainbow of colors. Far beyond tan, brown, dark brown, and really dark brown.

A $329 Rawlings 2026 World Baseball Classic Heart of the Hide glove is already out of stock on its website.

When George Rawlings secured a patent for a padded glove/oversized winter mitten in 1885 that he claimed was “intended especially for the use of base-ball players and cricketers … for the prevention of the bruising of the hands when catching the ball,” it was a way to acknowledge that the game he saw being played in his hometown of St. Louis area was barreling up beyond its bare-hand stage of existence. The forward-thinking drawings he created for the patent actually came two years before the sporting goods company he created with his brother Alfred and named after themselves.

By 1957, Rawlings had the first Gold Glove Awards for the top defensive players in Major League Baseball. In 2011, it introduced the Platinum Glove Award, first through fan voting and later through sabermetric analysis.

A 1965 magazine advertisement for Rawlings

In 2018, when the Rawlings company was bought for $395 million by MLB Properties along with the  Marina del Rey-based Seidler Equity Partners — the group of brothers who are nephews of former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley and control ownership of the San Diego Padres — it was investment in a brand that carried value amidst competition. Two years later, Rawlings/Seidler bought up the popular Van Nuys- based Easton brand to increase Rawlings’ offerings in bats and apparel.

So much so that last year, a 14,000-square-feet, two-story Rawlings Experience flagship store was opened in St. Louis just to prove its point.

The store, no doubt, will carry this coffee-table sized book, which has to be larger than a typical MLB second-baseman’s glove. It’s 3-pound arrival isn’t so much a self-congratulatory glove bump boasting about its legacy and survival amidst a jungle of competitors.

Recruiting the services of Rizzoli Publishing in New York to produce something akin to a Taschen art book, the contents also allow it to be more a clever dive into the company archives to extract marketing materials it used to both educate and pitch the quality of its product to kids, mostly through the endorsement of MLB player name recognition.

Except, when it came to Bill Doak.

Continue reading “Day 2 of 2026 baseball book reviews: Smell the glove, feel the love” →

Day 1 of 2026 baseball book reviews: Sho-ing off for the kids

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“Decoy Saves Opening Day”

The author: Shohei Ohtani and Michael Blank
The illustrator: Fanny Liem
The details: HarperCollins, 32 pages, $21.99, released Feb. 3, ’26
The links: The publisher and Bookshop.org

“Shohei Ohtani: A Little Golden Book Biography”

The author: Nicole de las Heras
The illustrator: Toshiki Nakamura
The details: Little Golden Book Biographies/Penguin/Random House, 24 pages, $5.99; released March 3, ’26
The links: The publisher and at Bookstore.org

A review in 90 feet or less:

An AI overview collection of words and symbols generated from a search engine ask specifically about “Shohei Ohtani insane endorsement income” quickly will engineer this kind of answer-nugget:

“Shohei Ohtani is projected to earn an estimated $125 million in endorsement income for 2026, with nearly 20 global brand partners, making him the highest-paid athlete in the world from endorsements alone, according to Sportico data via Boardroom. This follows an estimated $100 million in marketing revenue earned during 2025, on top of a $2 million salary with the Dodgers — a threshold only previously reached by legends like Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, and Stephen Curry”

We believe this to be true, because the AI primary source for that information seems to spitting out an Instragram post made by MLB on Fox and Fox Sports. Those numbers had been regurgitated many times over by other media platforms, including the Los Angeles Times, when, in the headline “Why $100 million in endorsements says Shohei Ohtani is the global face of sport,” the writer went on to deduce: “In Ohtani, whose face appears on everything from airplanes to skin care products, baseball at long last has its Michael Jordan: the superstar that has transcended sports and ascended to the status of global pop culture icon.”

He can hit. He can pitch.

He can write a book. Not one of those “as told to” mass-market, ghost-written, give-us-the-gossip type of sordid tale.

No new dirt here on Ippei here. It’s about a different dog.

Ohtani’s handlers must be painfully aware there is no money to be made in the book publishing business.

Just ask writers such as Bill Plunkett, who did the 2025 “L.A. Story: Shohei Ohtani, The Los Angeles Dodges and a Season for the Ages” or Jeff Fletcher, who fashioned an update of his 2022 “Sho-Time: The Inside Story of Shohei Ohtani and the Greatest Baseball Season Ever Played.” All their deadline work dancing around their regular job of covering the Dodgers and Angels didn’t generate royalties that will allow them to lead a more regal suburban existence.

Ohtani’s co-author, Michael Blank, could even clue him in. Blanks is a venture capitalist who has been with Creative Artists Agency for 15 years.

Continue reading “Day 1 of 2026 baseball book reviews: Sho-ing off for the kids” →

No. 94: Don Yi

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This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage.  Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness factors in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.

The most obvious choices for No. 94:

= Kenechi Udeze, USC football
= Paul Bergmann, UCLA football
= Mateen Bhaghani, UCLA football

The not-so-obvious choices for No. 94:

= Terry Crews, Los Angeles Rams

The most interesting story for No. 94:
Don Yi, Korean language interpreter for Chan Ho Park (1994)
Southern California map pinpoints:
Lakewood, Glendale, Los Angeles (Dodger Stadium)

The 1994 Major League Baseball season started with Don Yi wearing the No. 94 jersey for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It wasn’t necessarily the Year of Yi in Dodgertown that particular season, but numerically, it made sense.

While Yi was neither bat boy, ball dude nor clubhouse attendant, the 31-year-old UCLA graduate and computer programmer spoke South Korean. The Dodgers in general, and Chan Ho Park, more specifically, could use Yi’s skill set.

As an important part of a contract stipulation when the Dodgers signed a $1.2 million landmark deal with the 20-year-old pitcher, announced at a press conference at a hotel in Koreatown, the team would provide an interpreter.

Where Yi came into the picture, it’s somewhat a mystery.

Park, as the first MLB player brought in from South Korean player, needed to acclimate and assimilate. Yi was there to accomodate. This new-fangled job would evolve, or go sideways, on a daily basis.

It started with this: What is Park’s name?

The first time Yi was in full uniform as the team arrived its Vero Beach, Fla., training camp in March of ’94, reporters and teammates wanted to know what to call him.

“Some people are calling him Mr. Ho,” said Yi.

Dodgers broadcaster Ross Porter called him “Park Chan-ho,” as per Korean custom to use the family’s given surname first. Park asked if Yi could help him get the media covering him to “Americanize” his name.

Once that box was checked, what else might get found in translation?                         

Continue reading “No. 94: Don Yi” →

No. 37: Tom Seaver

fartheroffthewall

This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage.  Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.

The most obvious choices for No. 37:

= Donnie Moore: California Angels
= Lester Hayes: Los Angeles Raiders
= Ron Artest/Metta World Peace: Los Angeles Lakers

The not-so-obvious choices for No. 37:

= Kermit Johnson, UCLA football
= Bobby Castillo: Los Angeles Dodgers
= Ron Washington: Los Angeles Angels manager
= Tom Seaver: USC baseball

The most interesting story for No. 37:
Tom Seaver: USC baseball pitcher (1965)
Southern California map pinpoints:
Los Angeles (USC), Manhattan Beach, Twentynine Palms

Tom Seaver was a stellar bridge player.

Bridge can be a tricky game. The trick is to gather the least the number of tricks bid by the partnership at the four-person table. The rules seem simple, but mastering the strategy and complexity of it all takes time and practice. Intelligence and patience are rewarded.

During his brief time as a USC student — a pre-denistry major, because he sensed he might need a fallback career — Seaver sometimes could be found with friends hanging out at the 901 Club on Jefferson Blvd., famous for its hamburgers and beer.

And bridge building, when he was there.

In the abridged version of how Seaver went from college baseball to a pro career, there should have been a simple bridge there for him to cross from USC to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ stellar starting rotation of the 1960s.

Instead, there was a toll to pay, and the Dodgers balked.

That’s where Seaver’s poker face came into play. A fantastic 2020 book by acclaimed author and former minor leaguer Pat Jordan revealed how deep a Seaver was. But when it came to his MLB future, Seaver wasn’t bluffing on contract demands. Eventually, both the Dodges and USC lost out.

As the Vietnam War started in 1962, Seaver wasn’t keen on being drafted out of Fresno High, where he just finished his senior baseball season with a 6-5 record but made the Fresno Bee All-City team. Still, he had no pro offers, nor any college interest.

So Seaver enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves in 1962 and ’63, with bootcamp at Twentynine Palms. He realized eventually the extra weight and strength he gained in that training allowed him to eventually throw a more effective fastball and slider.

His roadmap to the bigs started with one season at Fresno City College as a freshman, then earning a scholarship to play at USC, the perennial NCAA title team under coach Rod Dedeaux (see SoCal Sports History 101 bio for No. 1).

After Seaver posted an 11-2 mark at Fresno City, the Dodgers were interested. But not more than $2,000 interested. Maybe it was $3,000. That was their reportedly their offer in 1964, the last time MLB teams would have the freedom to sign whomever they wanted before the draft kicked in.

Seaver declined the Dodgers’ gesture and went panning for gold elsewhere.

Dedeaux, who called Seaver the “phee-nom from San Joaquin,” agreed to give him one of his five USC baseball full scholarships — if Seaver first played in Alaska summer ball in ’64. Dedeaux worked out a deal for Seaver to pitch for the Alaska Goldpanners of the Alaska Baseball League, which showcased college talent. The 19-year-old experienced his first Midnight Sun Game in Anchorage — the 10:30 p.m. start on June 21 for the summer solstice that has become part of baseball lore.

In 19 games, starting five, Seaver was 6-2 with a save and 4.70 ERA to go with 70 strike outs in 58 2/3 innings. Later that summer, playing in an National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kansas, Seaver, now with the Wichita Glassmen, hit a grand slam in a game where he had been called in as a relief pitcher. Seaver would say that was one of his career highlights.

At USC, Dedeaux slotted Seaver as the Trojans’ No. 3 starter – also on the staff was junior Bob Selleck, the 6-foot-6 older brother of eventual USC basketball, baseball and volleyball player and actor Tom Selleck.

Continue reading “No. 37: Tom Seaver” →

No. 53: Don Drysdale

fartheroffthewall

This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage.  Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.

The most obvious choices for No. 53:

= Don Drysdale, Los Angeles Dodgers
= Keith Erickson, UCLA basketball
= Rod Martin, Los Angeles Raiders

The not-so-obvious choices for No. 53:

= Jim Youngblood, Los Angeles Rams
= Lynn Shackleford, UCLA basketball

The most interesting story for No. 53:
Don Drysdale, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher (1958 to 1969), California Angels broadcaster (1973 to 1981), Los Angeles Rams broadcaster (1973 to 1976), Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster (1988 to 1993)

Southern California map pinpoints:
Van Nuys, Bakersfield, Hollywood, Los Angeles (Coliseum, Dodger Stadium), Anaheim

To tell the truth about the dogma of Don Drysdale, there’s a legendary aura of “Big D” that goes beyond bigger-than-life discoveries about the 6-foot-6 right-handed sidewinder, a San Fernando Valley-reared kid who spent all 14 years of his big-league career with the Dodgers organization, moved with them back to Los Angeles from Brooklyn, and spent the last six years of his life as a broadcaster with them.

See how this works:

From the 1960 issue of Sport magazine, the self-authored story: “You’ve Got to Be Mean to Pitch”

Truth that’s been told: Don Drysdale led the league in putting the “mean” in a meaningful pitch.

Dare to discover: If some SABR-cat researcher was compelled to look it up, we’d suspect there was enough evidence to confirm Drysdale threw more brushback/purpose pitches than anyone else in his era. Four times, he led the majors in plunking batters — 154 HBP in all, more than 10 a season, and an National League record at the time of his retirement in 1969. But it played into his philosophy: You knock down/hit one of my guys, I knock down/hit two of yours. If they are hit in the process, well …

Further research from Fangraphs on the essence of the “Two For One Special,” aka the “Drysdale Revenge Factor,”‘ shows that 18 times in his career, Drysdale hit two or more batters in a game. That mindset traces back to Drysdale’s by former veteran Brooklyn teammate Sal “The Barber” Maglie. Properly stated, it puts the idea in a batter’s mind that while the pitcher could claim ownership to half of the 17-inch home plate, you weren’t always sure which half Drysdale picked in that situation.

Batters knew the drill.

“Batting against him is the same as making a date with the dentist,” Pittsburgh’s Dick Groat once said. Added San Francisco’s Orlando Cepeda: “The trick against Drysdale is to hit him before he hits you.”

In a 1979 interview with the New York Times’ Dave Anderson, Drysdale, 10 years after his retirement, said delivering the inside pitch was a “lost art.”

“I just feel,” he was saying now, his right forefinger swirling the ice in his Scotch, “that when you’re pitching, part of the plate has to be yours. … The pitcher has to find out if the hitter is timid. And if the hitter is timid, he has to remind the hitter he’s timid.”

(Love that imagery).

Continue reading “No. 53: Don Drysdale” →