Brent Mayne

Akadema’s Yogi Berra Replica Glove

While I was at the Texas High School Baseball Convention I ran into the good folks of Akadema Sporting Goods. Akadema is a company out of New Jersey that specializes in cutting edge baseball glove design. During my playing days, I never got a chance to try their products because I was under contract with Wilson to use their catching equipment; however, over the years I’ve watched their explorations into glove hinges and materials with great interest.

To me, it seemed like Akadema was the only company who was making an effort to improve the design of catcher’s gloves. They were definitely the only company doing anything different. Well, they’re doing something different again. This time they’re going backwards and reproducing replicas of famous past gloves.

The tag off the replica glove.

They were kind enough to give me their version of Yogi Berra’s 1952 Reach glove. I need to do some more research into the subject, but it seems with this Reach model, Yogi was one of the first receivers to ever use a hinged catcher’s glove. I was under the impression that the hinge didn’t come along until the late 60’s, but obviously I’m wrong.

Yogi with his well oiled glove.

Anyway, it’s a great glove and a lot of fun to play catch with. It’s a challenging piece of equipment and it blows my mind that someone could use it in a game. Playing catch with this pud really drives home the point that equipment limitations and technique go hand in hand. There’s only so much you could have done with that thing.

As I said, playing with this glove is a blast, but it also reminds me to be grateful for the catchers that came before me (Johnny Bench, Randy Hundley) and the companies (Rawlings) that had an influence in creating the modern day catchers glove. So thank you folks of the past, and thank you to companies like Akadema for looking both forwards and backwards.

By the way, in an unrelated development, there have been a couple nice articles and reviews recently about myself and The Art of Catching. This one is from ex-Dodger GM and writer for MLB.com, Fred Claire. And this one is from Baseball Digest.

Also, check my act out Thursday mornings at 6:35AM PST on Sirius radio channel 210 or XM 175. I’ll be a regular guest for a while. Give it a listen if you get a chance and let me know what you think. Seriously, I’ve got thick skin…I wanna get better so lemme have it. Thanks.