If you’re looking for a unique custom-made baseball, I’ve got the thing for you! Recently, I came across a man by the name of Don Droke on Facebook and he makes custom Heirloom Baseballs from antique baseball gloves. During Civil War times the soldiers would pass the time in camp playing baseball with balls sewn together from the wool of their worn-out socks and the leather of worn-out boots. Don follows the soldier’s mentality to create these baseballs but chooses to use worn-out baseball gloves as his canvas. At the beginning of July, I worked with Don to create a one-of-a-kind Al Kaline baseball to help set my collection apart from others. Below you can see some pictures of what he did for me.
Here’s a little bit about Don and his work. Don lives on The Homeplace, founded in 1839, in East Tennessee and is the 7th generation to live on the farm. He still farms the land as well. Don spent nearly 20 years coaching high school baseball as well as teaching chemistry. He comes from family who loves the game of baseball and were locally considered to be pretty good ball players. Don himself is a Cincinnati Reds fan.
Not only is/was Don a teacher and baseball enthusiast, he is also a Civil War reenactor, for both the blue and gray (as he puts it). As a reenactor he wanted to get his hands on a real deal Civil War era baseball for his collection. When he told his wife how much it would cost to get one, she told him that if he paid that much for a baseball, she would put it where the sun don’t shine. With this, Don realized that if the soldiers could make a baseball from boot leather in the 1860s, he was more than capable of making one today. He called his earlier balls “sad” but he worked to refine his tools to get to where he needed to be. Many of his first works he would give to his baseball friends as birthday gifts, including creating unique Civil War shipping boxes made from lumber found on his farm. The use of old leather gloves, to him, is the Circle of Baseball; the glove becomes the ball.
Don says the process itself takes anywhere from 6-9 hours per baseball. Usually, 2-3 hours to get the leather wrapped around the ball and lay correctly. Another 2-3 hours to sew the ball together and then yet another 2-3 hours to finalize the custom art, or “doodling” as he calls it. Lastly, he says he would never be able to do what he dies without his secret ingredient, “piney flats possum glue,” but he holds the secret of what he uses it for close to the chest and I don’t blame him.
When asked about his favorite baseballs he has create Don said that he’s wanted to keep them all. But some of his favorite’s you can find below. First, he has the Mays/HH Haddix ball “The Catch” ball made from two different gloves: an imported Willie Mays glove and a 1950s Rawlings HH Harvey Haddix “The Kitten” model glove. Next, his Lou Gehrig ball, complete with the number 4 on it which Don also wore wen he played. Lastly, as a Reds fan, Don also made a trade with Hall of Famer Johnny Bench. The trade was a handmade ball to Bench in return for his autograph on another creation of Don’s to remain in his personal collection.
If you’d like to read more about Don’s work, you can check it out here. If you’re interested in getting in touch with Don you can find him on Facebook and send him a message or send him an email at theglovester2000@yahoo.com. In Don’s words “you supply the glove and I can create you a ball.”