#34: He Made a Baseball Glove from an Army Backpack

Marcus Gurule (better known as "G") took the common army backpack material, Cordura, and used it to craft baseball gloves for Emery Glove Company. G is an Army veteran who served the United States for two decades. It had to be destiny that he was able to join up with Emery right at the time that they were working with the military-inspired Cordura material to improve their baseball glove offerings and differentiate themselves in the market!Our Beyond the Glove conversation took us back to G's roots in California and New Mexico where his mother taught him to sew and where he observed his father taking care of the local baseball league's worn-down equipment. Fast forward many years and multiple tours of duty in the Global War on Terrorism, he was urged to take up a hobby as his career in the Army was winding down. The hobby he chose drew inspiration from the examples demonstrated by both his parents: using his sewing skill to help repair damaged baseball gloves. He spent a few years behind a sewing machine fixing baseball gloves late at night while he was completing his military career during the days. Those late nights allowed him to build his own personal glove repair brand (known as Guts and Glory Trade). And once his time in the Army was officially complete, he had a full body of (glove)work to display and was able to market himself as a dynamic designer to glove brands. After plenty of grind, Emery decided to bring him on board in 2022 and the company has flourished since G joined the team.You'll be inspired when you hear the story of G's journey through the military, to running his own glove repair brand and finally to crafting gloves for a rapidly-rising glove company!

Since the 1970s, baseball radar guns have fascinated players coaches and most-of-all fans. The first time a baseball's speed was tracked with a radar gun, it was plugged into a cigarette lighter in a police car. In today's baseball, tracking pitch and bat exit speeds has become so advanced that the most casual fan can not only own the technology, but they can hold it in their pocket and track it on their smart phone!The Beyond the Glove podcast had the pleasure of welcoming on Jarrod Nichols of Tag Sports to deliver a baseball interest piece to our followers. Tag Sports operates out of the Kansas City metropolitan area and they've specialized in streamlining the integration of speed radar tracking to smartphones. If a baseball or softball player has the Tag Sports Radar, they can easily sync it to their phone to record progress and even capture video to go along with the data they collect from their throws (or swings). In addition to discussing the history of radar tracking in baseball and the capabilities of their radar, Jarrod of Tag Sports also joined Ben in a discussion of where he feels sports radar tracking could be moving in the future!Please join us in this discussion of baseball interest that we feel baseball glove enthusiasts will appreciate!Check out @tagsportsai on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tagsportsai/ Check out the Tag Sports website: https://tagsports.ai/ Questions or Suggestions?E-mail: [email protected] Free Telephone: 1-866-321-GLOV (4568)We hope that you enjoy Beyond The Glove! If you have any questions, concerns, or requests, please get in touch with our Glove Experts. They're available for a call or text at 866-321-4568, email at [email protected], or you can live chat on our website. Don't forget, we're JustGloves, and we're here for you from Click-to-Catch!

In January of 2023, New Balance announced that they had signed baseball's biggest star, Shohei Ohtani, to their brand. However, the most noteworthy news for the glove community came weeks later when New Balance announced that they would also be releasing an Ohtani baseball glove to the public that summer!A year passed and no glove was released. But in the spring of 2024, New Balance finally set a date for a limited release of the Shohei Ohtani glove that would take place at a New Balance store in Brentwood, CA. Only 50 gloves would be available for purchase at the event!Our guest, Justin Yee, was one of the 50 individuals who was permitted to the event to purchase the glove on that spring day of 2024! In this 32nd episode of the Beyond the Glove podcast, Justin details the experience of entering for a ticket to the event and purchasing + opening the Shohei Ohtani glove for the first time!Justin's expertise goes far beyond his possession of the Ohtani New Balance glove. For over 5 years, Justin has ran the popular Instagram account: 818 Gloves. From this account, he has shown the glove market's new love for multi-colored gloves while also demonstrating the beauty of the gloves from 20-30 years ago that set the stage for the color craze that has come upon the glove market in the last half decade!Tune in if you wish to learn about Shohei's glove and stick around till the end to hear about some of Justin's favorite picks from his collection of nearly 50 baseball gloves!

Japanese baseball gloves are now easier to purchase than ever before! Glove connoisseurs have Jax Gloves to thank for this convenience. In the past, one would have to wait for special releases or decide to purchase from websites headquartered overseas. But with Jax, baseball gloves crafted in the special Japanese style can be purchased and shipped quickly to US customers.One of the factors for the success of Jax Gloves in the United States, is Jaxon Jabara. He is the head of Jax fielding glove and pro player department. Jaxon collected a wealth of glove knowledge before he ever walked through the doors at Jax. Under the name @CoachellaGloves, Jaxon ran a very successful Instagram account that highlighted his extensive glove collection that he grew as a teenager and through his college years. During this time, Jaxon even traveled to Japan to get firsthand experience of their glove culture.Jax was already a successful batting glove company when they decided to enter the world of fielding gloves. And they knew that they had differentiate themselves to compete with the giants of the glove market. They determined that Jaxon could help them explore the untapped market of Japanese gloves within the United States and decided to bring him onto the team! With his help, Jax has continued to move the Japanese glove market forward within the United States ever since!Listen to Jaxon describe both his experience before and after he joined Jax in this 31st episode of the Beyond the Glove podcast!

When a lace on your baseball glove breaks, it can be a jarring experience. Most likely, you've put in lots of time playing catch and shaping the glove to allow it to have the absolute perfect baseball glove break-in. But has the time come to toss it out and go buy a new one? In most cases the answer is "no".Since 2022, Rich Davis has been operating Glove Refresh out of Tallahassee, FL. Glove Refresh is a company that specializes in baseball glove repair and break ins. So if you've found yourself with a glove featuring broken laces and are at a loss for what to do, simply shoot Glove Refresh a message and get the process started for sending your glove into them for repair!2025 proved to be a big year for Glove Refresh as they relocated their operations from out of Rich's garage and threw a party to celebrate the grand opening at their new location on June 28th!On this 30th episode of the Beyond the Glove podcast we let Rich detail his journey from a rural Kansas high schooler and college student fixing gloves on the side to turning it into a successful business venture. Rich has dreams of turning Glove Refresh into the go-to destination for ballplayers when it comes to caring and repairing their baseball glove!

Fresh out of college in the early 1990s, Roman Bormet joined on with Rawlings. Specifically, he was a part of their caravan that traveled the United States every baseball season starting during Spring Training and going through October. His job on the caravan: demonstrate firsthand to fans how a baseball glove is made. Roman became immersed in glove function and technology. Plus, he knew all of the nuances that came with lacing baseball gloves. But best of all was that his new employment opportunity put him face-to-face with some of Major League Baseball's biggest stars. Further, his unique task was addressing the glove needs of big leaguers.One day Roman found himself with Ken Griffey Jr. Griffey was a Rawlings man and on this particular day, Bormet thought he'd make a suggestion for mixing up the look of Junior's all-black Rawlings outfield mitt. He suggested that Griffey Jr allow him to add tan lace to his black glove. The Kid took handed over his glove, Roman added the tan lace and Griffey's legendary TB24 Rawlings pattern was born.However, it wasn't only Griffey who accepted mitt advice from Roman Bormet during this time. He also influenced the web choice and design of both Mark McGwire's and Alex Rodriguez's gloves when they were lighting the baseball world on fire in the early and mid-1990s.Thirty years after his career began on the caravan, Roman Bormet still finds himself working for Rawlings as a Key Account Manager, helping brands like JustGloves have a first class experience when working with Rawlings! Rawlings Gloves Available at JustGloves => JustballglovesRawlings Baseball and Softball Gloves Questions or Suggestions?E-mail: [email protected] Free Telephone: 1-866-321-GLOV (4568)We hope that you enjoy Beyond The Glove! If you have any questions, concerns, or requests, please get in touch with our Glove Experts. They're available for a call or text at 866-321-4568, email at [email protected], or you can live chat on our website. Don't forget, we're JustGloves, and we'll be here for you from Click To Catch!

A lifetime spent around the sport of softball gives Megan Rembielak the experience needed to provide advice not only how to play the game, but also how to get the perfect glove. Through her MegRem Softball channel, she is one of the most respected voices on YouTube when it comes to softball instruction. The knowledge she shares is collected from her experience competing at top levels through high school and college. Her personal career culminated in a decorated fastpitch career at NCAA Division 1 Appalachian State. And further, her early childhood was influenced heavily by being the daughter of a successful collegiate baseball coach.Megan has always thought of herself as a glove-first fastpitch player and when she sat down with us on our podcast to share her softball journey, she was able to share her insights on the differences between baseball gloves and softball gloves plus the important aspects to focus on when glove shopping.Lastly, Megan is a brand ambassador for Valle Gloves, the company that is shaking up the training glove market and she was willing to share three of the gloves she enjoys using for training sessions!Check out MegRem Softball Channel ➡️ YoutubeMegRem Softball Check out MegRem Softball Website ➡️ MegremsoftballMegRem Softball | Softball Practice Plans, Training Clinics and More Questions or Suggestions?E-mail: [email protected] Free Telephone: 1-866-321-GLOV (4568)We hope that you enjoy Beyond The Glove! If you have any questions, concerns, or requests, please get in touch with our Glove Experts. They're available for a call or text at 866-321-4568, email at [email protected], or you can live chat on our website. Don't forget, we're JustGloves, and we'll be here for you from Click To Catch!

Scott Carpenter crafted the very first synthetic baseball glove used in an MLB game in 2011. And the list of MLB player gloves he's worked on is impressive, including the glove of the 2016 World Series MVP, Ben Zobrist. In the early 2000's, Scott left a successful career in the New York City art scene to pursue his youthful passion of baseball gloves. This took him to rural Ava, MO to work at a Rawlings factory as a janitor during the final year it produced gloves in the United States. While in Ava, he picked everyone's brain in the factory about glove design, including the legendary Rawlings designer, Bob Clevenhagen. From Ava, his next move was to Cooperstown, NY to learn the full history of baseball gloves at the Hall of Fame and predict their future. He determined the future was synthetics. With this conviction in mind, he started his brand, Carpenter Trade. And as mentioned earlier, he eventually crafted the first all synthetic glove used by an MLB player named Brian Gordon of the New York Yankees. At the same time, he was crafting the most ergonomic hand stalls for gloves and started getting requests from MLB players, like Ben Zobrist, to have their gloves modified.Ultimately, his work started to be noticed in the market and Marucci picked him up to help lead their glove design team. In his time at Marucci, his synthetic gloves and ergonomic hand stalls became widely known through Marucci's C-Mod and C-Type gloves. After a handful of years at Marucci, Scott is back working on his own. Currently, he is crafting Nexguard thumb protectors, which are considered by many to be the premier catcher thumb guard available. And very soon he hopes to be back crafting or modifying gloves for the best baseball players in the world.

Jeremy Guthrie knows the connection between the design of baseball cleats and that of baseball gloves. Since his retirement from professional baseball in 2017, Jeremy has worked to make Custom Cleats the premier location for athletes looking to convert sneakers to athletic cleats. His keen eye for footwear started in his youth with an appreciation of the Jordan 1 sneakers that his older brother's middle school basketball team rocked one winter. From there, he was always on the quest to grab the latest footwear from Nike. Fast forward to late high school and Jeremy found himself as a premier pitching prospect for Major League Baseball teams. From there he embarked on a journey in which he was drafted three times and eventually landed with the Cleveland Guardians (at that time the Indians). During his grind through the minor leagues, he decided to refresh some of his equipment. He ended up changing his glove to model the Rawlings glove worn by Red Sox legend and Cy Young winner, Pedro Martinez. New glove in hand, Jeremy went on to start over 270 games across parts of 13 MLB seasons and he never wavered from that model of glove.During his run in pro baseball he crossed paths with the company, Custom Cleats. They converted a number of pairs of sneakers into cleats for him during his career and in 2015 as his Kansas City Royals were competing in the World Series, Jeremy signed a deal to own a portion of Custom Cleats. And since retiring he has become the sole owner of Custom Cleats.As the baseball glove market grows each and every year, it shows a lot of signs that it is becoming something similar to that of the sneaker market. The desire to draw attention to a glove due to its look and design continues to increase. As well, gloves are being collected as pieces of art nowadays separate from their ability to defend balls on a baseball field.We hope this interview with Jeremy profiles both the sneaker and glove industries and sheds light on their similarities!Check out Jeremy's Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/therealjguts/Check our Custom Cleats' Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/customcleats/Visit the Custom Cleats Site: https://www.customcleats.com/Shop gloves from JustGloves: https://www.justballgloves.com/Questions or Suggestions?E-mail: [email protected] Free Telephone: 1-866-321-GLOV (4568)We hope that you enjoy Beyond The Glove! If you have any questions, concerns, or requests, please get in touch with our Glove Experts. They're available for a call or text at 866-321-4568, email at [email protected], or you can live chat on our website. Don't forget, we're JustGloves, and we'll be here for you from Click To Catch!Like this comment

Jay Reilly has become a respected photographer and videographer within the baseball glove market all while handling his regular duties as the lead videographer of the Brooklyn Cyclones (NY Mets Single-A Affiliate) and the creative producer for New York University (NYU). Jay grew up on Long Island playing baseball and loving his favorite New York Met, David Wright. After high school, he pursued a degree in film which allowed him to make stops at schools in New York and California. His initial hope was to become a film director, but during the COVID shutdown he decided to zone in on sports and landed his jobs with the Cyclones and NYU. When he's not shooting film for the team or university, he can be found with one of his collection of 100 baseball gloves giving it it's own specially curated film and photography shoot. Jay has provided creative content for famous glove brands like Wilson, Emery and many more. For those looking to make their mark in baseball glove space with creative content, this episode is a must listen! Check out Jay's Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/jayreilly.mov/ Check our Jay's creative portfolio: https://jayreillywelcomehome.myportfolio.com/home Check out the Wilson DW5 Jay mentioned in the podcast: https://www.justballgloves.com/product/wilson-a2000-dw5-12-winter-collection-baseball-glove--wbw10252212/38199/ Shop gloves from JustGloves:https://www.justballgloves.com/ Questions or Suggestions? E-mail: [email protected] Toll Free Telephone: 1-866-321-GLOV (4568) We hope that you enjoy Beyond The Glove! If you have any questions, concerns, or requests, please get in touch with our Glove Experts. They're available for a call or text at 866-321-4568, email at [email protected], or you can live chat on our website. Don't forget, we're JustGloves, and we'll be here for you from Click To Catch!