College Custom Glove Days
Sep 12th 2018
If you play baseball, you know that your glove is your lifeline. You don't throw it on the ground, you don't stuff it in your bag, you take care of it. When it comes to our college partners, we give them something to take care of, something that is truly theirs. At the custom glove days that we hold for our college partners, we let each player completely customize their fielding gloves. Every aspect of the glove is made exactly to the individual player’s specifications. We even add certain custom options that are only available to the teams. We recently took trips to LSU and Baylor to let the guys customize their gloves for the 2019 season.
The personal connection of visiting a school and meeting individual players during custom glove days visits is what Marucci is all about. Actually, visiting the schools and spending time with the coaches and players allows us to further understand the teams’ needs and build our relationships with the programs. Since we just became the equipment supplier for LSU, it was important for us to get on campus and show Coach Mainieri and the players exactly what being part of the Marucci family means. Having LSU use Marucci gear was already a highlight for the company but seeing the LSU logo on a Marucci custom glove made it real. Both Coach Mainieri and the players were blown away by the custom options that we made available to them. Completely customizing every aspect of their gloves gave the players something that was truly and uniquely theirs.
It is always good to spend time with Coach Rodriguez and the Baylor baseball team, but custom glove day is that much more special. Getting to see the players design the gloves that they will be using during the season is such a unique experience. We had the privilege of customizing Baylor’s gloves last season as well, so this year was the second go-round for many of the players. The Bears had a phenomenal 2018 season with their custom Marucci gloves. Coach Rodriguez was able to see the craftsmanship that goes into the construction of each of our custom gloves and wanted his guys to have that same quality gloves for the 2019 season. Just seeing the reaction on the players’ faces as they designed their gloves made the trip worth it. You could see that, to them, this was more than a glove, it was a part of them.
One of the unique aspects that Marucci offers to our college partners is the addition of the school's logo on the gloves. This seemingly little aspect takes the customization process to a whole new level. The players also have the option to add their name, number, nickname, or anything they want (and their coach will allow) to their glove. We can take a custom glove and make it specific to one team, to one player. The players, in return, look at their gloves as pieces of them. Each player has a genuine appreciation for their glove because it's not just a glove, it is their glove.