TUCSON — Baseball is all about the numbers, from the salaries players make to the statistics they compile.
And the gloves they wear.
Yes, numbers matter there too. Especially when you’re a shortstop and you need to dig the ball out of the webbing in a hurry.
“The smaller the better,” Rockies infielder Clint Barmes said. “Most shortstops will tell you they don’t like a bigger glove.”
Barmes, a shortstop by trade who has moved to second base to make room for Troy Tulowitzki, wears a Mizuno model, size 11 1/2, which is the number of inches from the base to the tips of the fingers. Tulowitzki, meanwhile, uses a Rawlings 11 1/2.
“I hear Rafael Furcal uses a little bigger glove, but you’re talking a quarter-inch maybe,” Barmes said. “There’s a big difference in a quarter-inch on a glove.”
Size isn’t all that matters in a shortstop’s glove. Comfort factors in too. History is filled with stories of shortstops, most notably Jay Bell, who stuck with the same glove after the years turned to decades.
Barmes and Tulowitzki like the worn-in feel too. Tulo broke in a new glove this spring, but only by default.
“I had the other one four or five years,” he said. “I didn’t want to get rid of it. There was just nothing left of it.”
Barmes has used two gloves in his professional career, but only because his first one developed a weight problem. How’s that?
“I made the mistake of oiling it down too much because I was playing in the dry air in Denver,” Barmes said. “I had to retire it and use my backup.”
So how does a big-league shortstop break in his glove?
“I’ve heard of all kinds of stuff,” Tulowitzki said. “I’ve seen guys throw it in a Jacuzzi or a microwave. I just play with it. I’ve found that to be the best thing.”
Their gloves are a big part of their livelihood, and major-league shortstops treat them accordingly.
“I definitely would feel it if I took a different glove out or was forced to use my backup,” Barmes said. “If the laces break, you go to your backup, but hopefully it’s not more than an inning. . . . If I ever misplaced my glove, I’d freak. So I try to know where it is at all times.”
Jim Armstrong: 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com
