A Glove Affair — Last Stitches

Baseball can be a powerful tool for connecting. So it has been for me — connections to other people and to other times.

One of my favourite "tools," however, has been my old Mickey Mantle glove. It's my security blanket whenever I play and it's made some of my younger teammates do a double-take when they see it, or shake their heads and chuckle.

It also introduced me to one of the best guys ever, Kenny Jenkins of Ava, Missouri. Kenny considered himself a baseball glove repairman. I thought he was a magician. He brought my nearly antique glove back to life which, in turn, brought me back to life as a baseball player. Once again I could head out to the field knowing I could catch anything as long as I had my Mickey Mantle glove on my hand, or even if it was just in my bag. Security blanket indeed.

Of course, there was more to Kenny than some stitches in old leather, and that was something I happily discovered in my phone conversations with him. We started out talking about gloves, naturally, but we were soon off in other fields as Kenny empathised with my foibles and shared some of his, always keeping a level and philosophic head about him.

“Appreciate what you have, take advantage of it now ’cause you sure ain’t gonna take it with you,” Kenny said in one of our last conversations.

Sadly, Kenny died April 5. Both my glove and I feel orphaned, but comforted to know that if there is baseball in heaven and I get there, there will be someone to take care of my glove.