Pedro Martinez began his journey to the Baseball Hall of Fame with some ingenious craftsmanship.
The Boston Red Sox legend demonstrated Monday night during Turner Sports’ broadcast of Game 3 of the National League Championship Series how he made his first baseball glove out of cardboard. Like many other children who grow up in poverty in the Dominican Republic, Martinez’s family couldn’t afford to buy him a glove when he caught the baseball bug, so he made one himself using a time-tested technique.
“When the balls got a little harder, you needed something to cover your hands with,” Martinez explained. “… you pretty much have an opening where you can actually stick your hand. You mold it, and then you’ve got a glove.”
The #MLBonTBS Postseason crew recounts their first baseball gloves, including @45PedroMartinez demonstrating how he crafted his first glove out of cardboard as a kid. pic.twitter.com/T9y3iLZibP
— TNT Sports U.S. PR (@TNTSportsUS) October 14, 2019
Wow.
To say Martinez’s baseball career had humble beginnings is an understatement, and his cardboard-glove story is another example of the stunning literal and physical distance he traveled during his playing days.
