First Gloves: Gil McDougald

Gil McDougald was good. But let’s talk about his baseball career first.

Like a lot of people, I’ve been kicking the tires over at BlueSky as an additional place to post links to my work. So far I’ve liked it, largely because I can filter results and see posts just from baseball-related accounts when I feel like shutting off other noise. That’s sort of a game-changing feature on social media.

One of those baseball accounts I follow is DJ Glove Repair, who routinely posts spectacular refurbishments of old baseball gloves. And that includes this beautiful thing:

That’s a Gil McDougald signature glove made by McGregor for some lucky left-handed kid who would likely never be allowed to use it to play the same positions McDougald played. He was an infielder. He never stood in the outfield for even one inning. Or pitched, or caught, or even played first base. His glove was too valuable at the infield spots that required real fielding skill, which McDougald had in abundance.