Usually I try to be a pragmatic, commonsense, look-for-good-value kind of guy.  However, once in a while, I can get a bit extravagant.  One of the things that I once splurged on was a softball glove.  Let me make this clear, this was not just any softball glove, this was a Wilson A2000 softball glove (decades before Harry Potter had his Nimbus 2000).  The A2000 is still made by Wilson and is used by many Major League players today.  I bought the glove sometime in the spring of 1981 and, if I recall correctly, I paid in the neighborhood of $80 for it.  (How I came to have $80 available to “invest” in a softball glove is another story for another day).  A quick search on the internet, revealed that today’s A2000 model goes for about $240.  It is safe to say that I would not pay $240 for a glove today.

I imagine that we all have something that we just “had to have” and once we obtained it, it quickly lost our favor and was cast into a garage or basement to gather dust and be forgotten.  I am happy to say that has not been the case with this glove.  From the moment that I first put it on my hand, it just felt right.  It was “game ready” when I walked out of the store.  Today, it is not nearly as soft and supple as it was in 1981, but then neither am I.   Over the years I have tried to take care of it, I have “dressed” it numerous times and made several attempts to rework the lacing in the webbing and the fingers.  Just last week I re-laced the fingers in an effort to tighten it up a bit.  It has been used every year for the last 34 softball seasons and I certainly hope to have the opportunity to use it again this year.

Not too long after it came into my possession I wrote Bible verses, which I thought were appropriate, on the back of three of the fingers.  Today, if you look closely, you can still make out a word or two of the following:

Ecclesiastes 9:10  Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might

Exodus 4:4 …. and he put forth his hand and caught it…

and perhaps the most appropriate, Psalm 19:12 Who can understand his errors?