WWW.GLOVE-WORKS.COM BASEBALL GLOVE COLLECTOR FORUM

Hello, I'm new to this community. Recently I've been looking more into gloves and upgrading my collection. One thing I noticed are gloves that people say are "Pro Department" & "Pro Issue". From what I can tell they are made specifically for a professional player, put I noticed that some people are saying they have "connections". So does that mean their "connections" are connected to the company and make a glove in a special custom builder? What's different between these special builders and the average builder accessible to the public? Also I have read that if you are going down the route of having a connection, you can't put your name on it. So does that mean the gloves go through some type of authority that might get suspicious if they don't recognize the name? Again, I'm new so everything I said might be wrong but any info would help.

Common question...

As someone who's been doing this a long time, and well, I guess part of the initial group who have caused this "problem" that people have run with....


Pro Department & Pro Issue generally refer to the same thing: A glove which was ordered thorugh a pro player, minor league player, independent player, college player, or via a connection at a glove company. PD/PI gloves have a separate "form" that an associate of rep will fill out. This is ENTIRELY DIFFERENT from the online builder. At least for Rawlings and Mizuno this is true. The part when people say you cant put a name on it is false. They are most likely saying that because they are trying to flip them. Im currently sitting in front of a bookcase of these gloves with embroidery, so I can attest to this.

PI/PD gloves do not have some special website, but have access above and beyond the online builder to the public for options including: Any pattern Rawlings has a die for, additional webs (think hinged single post), additional leather colors (this gap is almost gone now), additional lace and thread colors (again this almost the same to the public now) options like additional embroidery on the glove, things like "hand sewn welt," and a few others not coming to mind.

The number of people with "connections," seems to have increased over the years which is great, but at the same time it creates a new pool of people trying to rip each other off. I hope this helps.

Thank you, this really helped. Can't wait to hunt one down, they sound great to add to any collection.

I will add that the "no names" issue comes up when someone is connected to the company, but is only supposed to have access for themselves, and not sell to other people. That's why they can't have someone else's name on it.