Trusting Your Glove

Ron Swoboda talks about his catch in the 1969 World Series. He still carries the glove, and gives that particular piece of equipment a lot of credit:

“When I broke on the ball I knew I got a good jump,’’ Swoboda told The Post. “But 95 percent of the way in I thought I’m not getting there. You just do a full layout and the degree of difficulty there is extreme. Then I felt it hit in my web. There’s a lot of snag in that web. The leather is different on this glove. Unlike any other glove I ever had, even if the ball hit you in the palm of this glove it would stay. That gave me the confidence to dive backhanded.’’

NY Post

Swoboda worked on his defense all year so Gil Hodges would stop pulling the outfielder late in the game for defense. It paid off in the World Series.

from baseballmusings.com http://bit.ly/2DoYouD