The Glove Trick

This entry is informational, and also necessary for the next couple game entries (hint hint).

Many fans who have attended BP can relate to this situation:

For whatever reason, a ball has ended up just out of reach. It’s sitting right there for you to take, but there’s no way you can possibly get closer to it. You just have to wait there, staring at a ball that you could have if you had arms that were 20 feet long. Either you give up and walk away,  a player tosses it to someone else or throws it back in, or like the first picture, won’t be retrieved in the near future . Sadly, you’re left without a baseball.

Before I started my Ballhawking career, being in this situation was the worst feeling I could imagine. After reading numerous blogs and seeing videos, I attempted to put a stop to this. I was determined to get my hands on one of these balls. Here's how you can make your own ball retrieving device:

What you’ll need:

• A glove
• About 30 feet of string
• A larger than average rubber band
• A Sharpie you're willing to possibly lose

First, tie the string around the wrist strap part of your glove. Don’t make it so tight that it makes your hand uncomfortable or crunches the padding. A well tied knot will do just fine. Use as much string as possible that you can fit in the palm of your glove hand comfortably. This is where you'll store the string when you're not doing the trick, which is a whole lot of time.

 

Second, loop the rubber band around the back and top of your glove. Every glove is different, so some are easier to loop than others. It helps if it has a flap you can hook it into on the back, like my old glove:

But if it’s smaller, like my new one, it still works with a little shifting and tweaking.

You’ll need to wrap the other end of the rubber band around the second or third finger of the glove. Again, every glove is different, and you’ll have to practice and adjust to get it just right.

Next, get the Sharpie and wedge it in the palm of the glove. Find a nice groove to fit both ends into so that it won’t come loose or fall out (putting one end between the fingers usually doesn't work). Try to position the rubber band so that it holds the marker firmly in place. After working the marker in there and putting some pressure on the spot you want it to stay, the glove will cooperate. If you did it right, it should be snug and not be moved by a little shaking and moving.

You’ve now got something that looks like this. Now you can get to work

Based on the amount of string and skill level, you can start from different heights; standing up, on top of a chair, or out of your second story window.

While dangling the glove with nothing but the string, carefully hover the glove over the ball.

At the right time, lower the glove over the ball, trying to get it inside the triangle created with the pocket and rubber band. This is a difficult task, because you need to visualize what’s going on from X feet above the action. 


Now here’s the cool part. If you placed it in the right position, the weight of the glove will cause the rubber band to stretch AROUND the ball, making it look like it’s getting sucked into the glove.

The toughest part is making sure the band is stretched just the right amount. Too small, and the glove doesn’t have enough weight to get around the ball. Too big, and the ball isn't going to get stuck inside.


When you see the tip of the glove balancing on the ground by itself, chances are the ball made it inside. 

Start to carefully and slowly pull your glove back up. If you made all the right calculations, the ball should come right up with it, and not drop out of the bottom.

So there you have it, a full photo demonstration of the most common method of this trick. If you’re skeptical and think I just placed it in there, there's a video coming soon to prove you wrong.

Practice is CRUCIAL if you want to have success with this. The pressure will be on when you’re at a park and dealing with unpredictable factors. If you haven’t successfully done it before, there’s a large chance you won’t get it when you try it for the first time.

I prefer to practice as high as I can get, the previously mentioned second story window.

You may also see some weird ones with a coffee can and weights, but this is the easiest to operate, and least likely to be held up by security guards.

My glove trick history isn’t all that extensive. Wrigley is very strict about any sort of ball retrieving device, so I never have (and never will) try to pull it off there. Miller Park in Milwaukee has a decent amount of chances if you’re in the right spot. If you’re not, then the height you need to dangle the glove from gets ridiculous; it’s easily 50 feet or more in some places, much too far to have decent control.

One of the only places to use the glove trick at Miller Park is the visiting bullpen.

The Cell has been my best chance so far. I actually got to attempt the trick for the first time last year. The ball looked similar to this, which is someone else’s photo of US Cellular:

When talking about glove tricks, that gap is heaven. You’re not too high up, and it’s a small, reachable distance even at the farthest point.

When I tried to pull off the trick, I was shaking. Fans were asking questions about how it worked, I was worried about security yelling at me, and honestly, I was pumped. I couldn’t believe I was about to actually do it in a real situation.

I fooled with it for a minute, then another fan walked over. He had one of those funky contraptions I was talking about. He claims what he had was “for the end of a fungo bat…so coaches can just grab them without bending down”, and some weights to push the grabber around the ball. He insisted I let him try, so I pulled my glove up to check what my problem was. The marker wasn’t in place, and it was a miracle it didn’t fall out after the first attempt.

Long story short, I got 2 more tries, but didn't end up with it. The other guy snatched it and gave it to a kid. I was pissed and disappointed. First of all, I saw it first, and this guy kind of stole the opportunity from me. Second, I had spent about 2 hours practicing the few days before, and I couldn’t convert the easy snag when it counted.

It's always good to be prepared. Even though I may not have the guts to do it, or even get a chance, I'll be spending a couple hours hanging out my window before I go to a visiting park. Remember, this IS on my season goal list. There's no grey area with this one; I either snag one or I don't. Let's hope it's the former.