The Origin Story
Now this is a story all about how…II Sticks Glove Works came to be:
If you’re a Millennial like me, you’ll get the above reference. If not, ask your mom or dad!
The glove behind it all is a Louisville Slugger FL1200 Pro Flare with a closed web and cushioned finger cot. It’s the glove I got before my junior season at Longwood University in 2008, but the story doesn’t start then. Fast forward through two solid years at Longwood as an average DI pitcher. Ignore the MLB scouting bureau tryouts that didn’t pan out. Pay no mind to the numerous rec leagues in Northern Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley, and Central Virginia where I tried (and am still trying) to show opponents (and now my kids) that I once knew how to pitch.
Focus now on the Summer of 2023 as I prepared for a tournament in Cooperstown, two actually that July. The first with the Virginia Revolution, a group of 35+ year-old men from Charlottesville and Richmond who compete regionally each Spring and Summer. The second experience was with The Legends of Baseball that I got to experience with my dad, as we played together, and my son, who got to watch his dad and “Papa” play in the home of the baseball Hall of Fame.
After years of neglect and abuse of the FL1200 I looked at it and decided it needed a face lift before I took the mound in a place full of baseball history. Google searching commenced and I scoured the internet for someone or somewhere to send my glove to get cleaned, relaced, and a rip in the leather fixed or patched. I settled on a glove shop in Minnesota, chose a new lace color (black), and nervously packed my glove into a cardboard box. Apprehension filled me as I dropped it off at the post office. The worry that my glove would get lost in transit and I’d never see it again was very real.
I won’t leave you on the hook for long, the glove made it back in one piece! It was literally Christmas in July as I got the FL1200 back just before the first tournament that Summer. The black laces popped, the leather was rich and soft, the tear was patched up, and I was a happy man. I had to go out and play catch with my son. Not only because it’s one of my favorite things to do, but I had to pseudo-break in my glove again as the new lace was stiff and needed to be worked. It was awesome. It felt like I had a new glove, but got to keep the sentimental value. The best of both worlds.
“Great story, pal,” you’re probably thinking, “but where does the birth of II Sticks Glove Works come into this tale?” Great question, let me tell you. In Spring 2023 I stopped working as an athletic trainer to be a stay-at-home dad (and as of Fall 2024 a homeschool teacher). That obviously gave me more free time during the week. As the tournament season ended and I pondered how to fill my days while the kids were at school, my FL1200 seemed to stare me in the face. I thought about the money I spent to have it shipped to and from Minnesota, the time it took to have the work done, and then it hit me. “I could have probably done that myself,” I probably said out loud, but certainly thought over and over.
From there, YouTube searching commenced and I traveled down a virtual rabbit hole of how-to’s and step-by-step videos of glove relacing. I emerged with a lacing needle from Amazon, a set of glove lace from my local Play it Again Sports and my brother’s childhood glove (an SSK Medal Series). Armed with everything I needed I set out to dismantle and reassemble that SSK in my garage to see what the process was all about.
I was hooked! Feelings of satisfaction, near-instant gratification, happiness, and success filled me as the last lace was threaded and tied. Now, it wasn’t perfect, not nearly (I’ve since relaced it a second time to fix my errors), it wasn’t pretty, but it was my work. And I liked it, a lot!
Thanks to my dad for having kept a number of old gloves and a few friends who trusted me with their precious belongings I quickly gained practice and experience. Thanks to a couple dedicated YouTube pages I was able to learn on the fly and hone my skills. Thanks to a few experienced glove smiths on social media I was able to build my tool arsenal.
On September 27, 2023 I introduced II Sticks Glove Works on Instagram (@2sticksgloveworks) and Facebook (II Sticks Glove Works). Since then I have worked on gloves from 8 states, a dozen cities/counties in Virginia, and sold gloves I’ve flipped to customers in 9 states. I’ve had multiple repeat customers and have established relationships with local travel and rec organizations.
That’s it, that’s how II Sticks Glove Works came to be. The name comes from the Roman numeral II, which is the suffix of my legal name. I once heard Scott Van Pelt, from ESPN, give the nickname “Chucky Three Sticks” to a golfer named Charles Howell III and I have always loved that phrasing. I’ve wanted to use it as a brand name (two sticks in my case) ever since.
With glove,
