WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. • In the end, the glove he makes is superior to the glove he took.
On many spring days, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny can be found roaming the fields with a glove that is not his own. Early in the morning or later in the afternoon, he’ll sit in the batting cages with the same glove and just catch pitch after pitch after pitch. Sometimes he’s using a glove given him by Matt Carpenter, other times it’s one from Stephen Piscotty, and in the coming days it could be Matt Adams’.
The act of breaking in a new glove is art and routine, and around Cardinals camp, for some fielders, Matheny is the doctor of glove.