Last Sunday, I made brief mention of a piece in the Austin American-Statesman, profiling the Nokona Ballglove Company, the last major baseball glove manufacturer to assemble it’s wares on U.S. soil (Rawlings and Wilson have long since opted for cheaper foreign labor, even for their top-of-the-line models). Also noted was that Cubs 2B Todd Walker was Nokona’s sole paid endorser.
Later that day, Walker made a pair of costly errors in the Cubs’ 13-7 loss to the Mets.
On Tuesday, Nokona’s plant in Nocona, TX burned to the ground.
The Statesman’s Kevin Robbins writes that Nokona insists they’ll rebuild, and for this, I am terribly grateful. Having graced the doofus adult softball leagues of two different countries with my Nokona-assisted glovework (my career fielding percentage is approaching .400), I can personally vouch for the TLC that goes into each mitt made by these master craftsmen and women.
When and if they do reopen for business, I have but one suggestion : replace Todd Walker as the company spokesmodel. Nokona deserves far better. And Alex Rodriguez might be available.
Not sure if i get the connection between the events and a curse. Im just pretty sure he sucks. Im a padre fan and he is just flat out terrible. The first 2 hits he fielded as a padre were back to back errors. They need to drop him as their spokesman, unless they want their product associated with a guy who is leading the league in errors per attempts. We in san diego call him Todd “surehands” Walker.
here’s the connection. For years, Nokona thrived without a single paid MLB player spokesmodel. They hired Todd Walker…and their factory BURNS TO THE GROUND.
There’s your curse, Mike, and if you’re smart, you’ll figure out where the fire exits are at Petco.
Obviously, there is no connection. And obviously it’s people who say other people suck who actually suck. Especially when those people who say someone sucks don’t have the slightest idea how to do what that person does. I’d like to see you come up with any of the balls hit to him…EVER. Stupid thing to write about a good glove company. Thanks for never repeating this kind of BS.
I remember going there on a tour in my 3rd grade class. I am glad they saved the muarol..
The facility reopened and they are back to manufacturing gloves again.