Glove of the Series: Missoula Paddleheads

Glove of the Series: The Rawlings Heart of the Hide PROTB24HT

By Kyle Robinson

The Ballers head to Missoula this week to finish their road trip against one of the Pioneer League's most established franchises. The PaddleHeads are one of the league's flagship organizations, carrying forward a baseball tradition in western Montana that stretches back decades through different names, affiliations, and generations of fans. For this trip, I found myself reaching for a glove built around an idea that has survived just as long.

Trap-Eze.

If you've spent enough time around baseball, you've seen one—maybe even owned one.

What most people don't realize is that one of the most recognizable glove designs in the sport traces back to a player looking at his equipment and wondering if there was a better way.

In the 1920s, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bill Doak suggested improving the web between the thumb and index finger of a glove. It seems obvious now, but at the time it was revolutionary. That simple idea helped change glove design forever. A century later, baseball is still building on that foundation. The Trap-Eze is one of the clearest examples.

Rawlings introduced the design in the late 1950s, creating a deeper, more secure pocket that quickly became a favorite among outfielders. Unlike many baseball innovations, it never really disappeared. Because it worked.

This particular glove is a PROTB24HT Fastback Trap-Eze built from U.S. steerhide and stamped: PRO GRADE • HANDCRAFTED No. 85

What exactly "No. 85" means, I still can't say with certainty.

I've found at least one other example stamped No. 21, which suggests these gloves may have been part of a broader numbered series, but until I find documentation, that's where the story stops. And honestly, I'm okay with that. The glove itself tells plenty of the story—the Gold Glove Co. branding, the Fastback design, the Trap-Eze web. The kind of details baseball people notice immediately when this beauty comes out of the gear bag.

The funny thing is that when I bought this glove, I had no idea any of that history existed.

Years ago, I was simply looking for a glove I could use when I wasn't behind the dish calling pitches for my men's league team. Along with a budget infield glove from Dick's Sporting Goods, I found this PROTB24HT on eBay listed as new without tags for far less than collectors would later tell me it was worth. I wasn't looking for a collector's item. I wasn't looking for a grail. I was simply looking for a glove. So I bought it with every intention of using it.

The funny thing is, I never stopped.

Most weekends, this glove is still doing exactly what I bought it to do.  Play catch with your teammates, snag fly balls. Only later did I start learning more detail about the Trap-Eze lineage, the Gold Glove Co. branding, the handcrafted numbering, and the fact that some collectors consider gloves like this among the more sought-after modern Heart of the Hide models. Which is funny, because this glove wasn't the result of years of collecting. It was an accidental grail. I didn't know what I had until fellow collectors on Reddit and Instagram started pointing out how unusual it was. Some even reached out unprompted to see if I'd sell it, the answer was and is no.

I wasn't looking for a collectible. I was looking for a glove. In a lot of ways, it's the reason the collecting started in the first place.

And that fits this series. The PaddleHeads have built one of the Pioneer League's most respected organizations by doing the right things consistently, year after year. The Trap-Eze has lasted for much the same reason—not because it was flashy, but because it worked.

In the end, the game doesn't change all at once. It changes in small decisions, quiet improvements, and details most people overlook. The ones worth paying attention to.

Kyle Robinson is a transplanted Texan with a lifelong passion for the game of baseball. Residing in Oakland with his wife Randi, their daughter India, and a menagerie of pets. When he’s not slyly convincing his wife to name their pets after legendary baseball broadcasters (e.g. our corgi Milo Hamilton Robinson) he is probably balancing parenthood with trying to cram in as much baseball as possible. Whether it’s keeping the dream alive as a weekend warrior behind the dish, or on the sideline as a coach, volunteering, rest assured he has baseball on the brain. Find him on Instagram: @krob452