Description
This object is a large baseball glove, made of brown leather. It appears to be slightly degraded in condition, with the thread from the sewing detail on the glove’s web coming loose and small specks of paint evident on the back of the glove. There is a label on the strap saying that it was made in Japan by a company called ‘Pine’, and the word ‘professional’ is also etched into the leather of the palm.
Deduction
This glove has many layered meanings to me which all link back to my dad, who is a big J.D Salinger fan. Having read all his texts and the biographies written about him, one Christmas he bought me a copy of Salinger’s most famous work ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ so I could understand why he admired his writing so much, which I soon understood and immediately came to love his works too.
In the book, the main character Holden Caulfield had a younger brother called Allie who died of Leukaemia which Holden struggles to cope with. However, the book also mentions that Allie used to play baseball and to prevent himself from getting bored out on the field, he had written poems all over his glove in green ink which, now in Holden’s possession, becomes an important symbol in the novel of Holden’s own grief and inability to emotionally let go of his brother. I had always loved this element of the book when I first read it, as although such a subtle symbol, for me, the glove summed up all the book’s emotion. A few years later, my family took a trip to New York and whilst we were at a flea market one morning, I saw this glove at a stall, accompanied with its own baseball, which immediately made me think of Allie, as well as my dad and I’s shared love for The Catcher in the Rye. Also, the coincidence of finding it in New York, where the book is set, added a really special element to it and since the holiday, the glove has also grown a new meaning in reminding me of how much I enjoyed my time in New York and all the memories that were made there!
The glove’s link to Catcher in the Rye has an even more personal meaning though, due to the fact that I was actually named after Holden’s younger sister in the book, Phoebe Caulfield, both a name and character my parents really loved, and therefore adding a whole new element of significance for me.
Speculation
If the item were to be found in the future, I am aware that this this story could not be identified through the object itself, due to my very abstract links to it, and could just be viewed as vintage sports item. Through the soft, creased and well-worn in nature of the leather on the inside, it is possible to assume that the glove was very well used and worn in a past life, one which predates me back to the mid 20th century perhaps, speculated from the condition of the leather. Also, as a result of its large size, conclusions can be drawn that the object belonged or was made for an adult who was a talented or frequent baseball player from the ‘professional’ etching on the glove’s palm.
All photos are author’s own
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