A baseball glove used by New York Yankees legend Lou Gehrig in the 1930s was repaired by Osaka-based sportswear manufacturer Mizuno Corp. and returned on Thursday to U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer.
The glove, part of the collection of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., was manufactured by the firm and is believed to have been presented to Gehrig more than 70 years ago. It will be exhibited at the ambassador's official residence in Tokyo.
Asked about what Gehrig means to Americans, Schieffer said: "Lou Gehrig has a special place in the history of baseball and in the hearts of Americans as well. He and Babe Ruth are the icons of American baseball."
Schieffer praised the repairs made by Nobuyoshi Tsubota, one of the firm's best glove makers, saying: "A wonderful job has been done. It's clear the maestro prepared this with the love and affection of someone who has great respect for the game of baseball."
According to Tsubota, the condition of the glove was very good, and he only had to replace its leather strings. However, he said it took a lot of effort to match the new string to the worn glove of 70 years ago.
"I was very pleased to have the chance to repair the glove of such a legendary player, and one that was manufactured by my great predecessors," Tsubota said.
According to Schieffer, he asked the Hall of Fame to loan him a piece of Japan-related memorabilia that he could exhibit at the ambassador's official residence as a symbol of the two nations' friendship via baseball, a sport that the ambassador also loves. In response, the museum sent the glove of Lou "The Iron Horse" Gehrig to the ambassador.
However, he found that the glove's string had disintegrated, so he asked Mizuno to repair it via the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Tokyo.
When a Mizuno employee visited the ambassador in December to check whether the company would be able to repair the glove, a tag bearing the legend "R.R. Mizuno. Co. Ltd." was discovered on the back of the glove, revealing that it had been manufactured by the firm. "R.R." stands for the first name initials of the firm's founding brothers.
After an intensive study of historical documents at the firm, it was learned that the glove was probably made around 1930, and the Yankees first baseman probably obtained it as a present from a Japanese player sometime when the major leaguer visited Japan for exhibition games in 1931 and 1933.
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