I recently received a call from one of our Minor League players asking for support in his new charitable endeavor.  I had first met Vance Albitz here, in South Florida, during 2012 Spring Training.  He had called us looking for bats and made an unusual request.  We’ve met many players at the team hotel to show off our bats, but Vance asked to meet at 5:30AM on a Saturday at the hotel before the day’s road trip to sample our wares.  The next morning we spent about 15 minutes together discussing his needs and what we could do to provide the right bat for him.

Fast forward seven or eight months and a few conversations.  Vance called me out of the blue on a Friday night telling me about his big plan of providing gloves for American servicemen.  He explained that he had heard a story and had become moved to take action.  Vance told me about how he had heard a soldier talking about the ridiculous amounts of down time that they can have.  The soldier explained that the care packages he and his fellow soldiers received are appreciated, but that with all the down time he’d sure love to play baseball.

That short story moved Vance Albitz to found Gloves 4 Troops.

Gloves 4 Troops is one man’s effort to give something back to servicemen and servicewomen.  Vance Albtiz heard a short story and was so moved to help that he took action to IMMEDIATELY.  One of the questions I asked Vance was “when did this all come about?”  To which he replied, “a couple of days ago”.  I found his reply awfully inspiring and chose to ask him how we can help.  There are two main reasons we wanted to help.  Number one, the way Vance is approaching this appeals to  our entrepreneurial way of thinking.  He saw a need, and he quickly made a plan and took action to make it a reality.  Secondly, it shows that one person can make a big difference.  Without a ton of fanfare and slick marketing Vance was able to begin shipping boxes inside of a week.
Talk about a man with a big goal!  We are happy to partner with Vance and his efforts to put baseball gloves on the hands of the troops.  Our monthly giveaway of one custom bat is just small part.  It’s truly a pleasure to work with someone who thinks big, and we are looking forward to great things!