Padres outfielder Wil Myers is only 24 years old, yet he's one of the last of a dying breed of old-school ballplayers:
Guys who do not use batting gloves.
In an era where some players will don several different sets of batting gloves within the framework of one game, Myers does not ... has not ... and will not ever use them, a point me made quite clear to NBC 7's Derek Togerson during Padres FanFest at Petco Park this year.
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Former Red Sox star Ken Harrelson is widely known as the first player to use a batting glove full-time, doing so in the late 1960's. In fact, in 1968 Harrelson led the league in RBI, was an All-Star, and finished 3rd in the American League MVP voting while wearing gloves, perhaps opening other hitters' eyes to the possibility.
But, there are earlier reports of hitters experimenting with golf gloves at the plate. In the 1940's Giants star Bobby Thomson (yes, THAT Bobby Thomson) played around with them when pro golfer Danny Lawler gave him a pair to protect his hands from the cold early-season games in New York.
Since then ballplayers have tried the one-glove look (like Rod Carew), or the more popular 2-glove approach that is almost ubiquitous today.
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In fact, Myers, Astros outfielder Evan Gattis, and Cardinals infielder Matt Carpenter are the only players in the game who go gloveless permanently, regardless of weather conditions. Of course, Wil has had the benefit of playing in Tampa and San Diego, where cold weather is not a concern. Padres fans would probably like to keep it that way for a while.
