The Leather Lather

BRIAN ROBERTS, Second Baseman The six-year veteran uses Nike gloves and switched to a new one this season after four years with his old leather. "It just got so bad, it was a mess," says Roberts of his old model, which gave him a scare last year. After Roberts "had the web break" during a game, he finished out the inning with a new glove before the old one was repaired. "I was praying they didn't hit it to me," he says.

ROBERTS KEEPS that memory-rich glove hanging in his locker, and while his new one is handled a bit more roughly—"I just throw it in there," he says—it gets the full Roberts treatment. "Every inning I spray inside the glove with sticky stuff," he says. "It's like the adhesive used for taping your ankles. I like the glove to feel like it's stuck on my hand. I [also] spray it on the inside of my palm. I don't care if people put their hands in it, but most people are scared of my glove. People say it is nasty."

CHRIS GOMEZ, Utilityman Unlike most big leaguers, Gomez doesn't treat his new Mizuno infielder's or first baseman's gloves with anything. "You can pretty much take it out of the bag and use it," says the 35-year-old, who plays all four infield positions. "I break them in by just using them. The leather is soft."

YET GOMEZ is careful about preserving his gloves. He won't use one of his gamers for playing catch, and in his locker he arranges them one inside the next. "My game glove on the left, then my practice glove, then my game first base glove. I want my game glove to be formed to my practice glove." He's meticulous about packing for road trips—" I don't want them to move in the bag, so I pack them, then pack stuff all around them" he says—and as for letting a teammate try his moneymaker on for size? Says Gomez, "My game infield glove? Never. If someone puts a big paw into it and stretches it out, I'll have to squeeze it to hold it on. I like it snug."

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