In January of 2023, New Balance announced that they had signed baseball's biggest star, Shohei Ohtani, to their brand. However, the most noteworthy news for the glove community came weeks later when New Balance announced that they would also be releasing an Ohtani baseball glove to the public that summer!
A year passed and no glove was released. But in the spring of 2024, New Balance finally set a date for a limited release of the Shohei Ohtani glove that would take place at a New Balance store in Brentwood, CA. Only 50 gloves would be available for purchase at the event!
Our guest, Justin Yee, was one of the 50 individuals who was permitted to the event to purchase the glove on that spring day of 2024! In this 32nd episode of the Beyond the Glove podcast, Justin details the experience of entering for a ticket to the event and purchasing + opening the Shohei Ohtani glove for the first time!
Justin's expertise goes far beyond his possession of the Ohtani New Balance glove. For over 5 years, Justin has ran the popular Instagram account: 818 Gloves. From this account, he has shown the glove market's new love for multi-colored gloves while also demonstrating the beauty of the gloves from 20-30 years ago that set the stage for the color craze that has come upon the glove market in the last half decade!
Tune in if you wish to learn about Shohei's glove and stick around till the end to hear about some of Justin's favorite picks from his collection of nearly 50 baseball gloves!