Dansby Swanson says his Cubs glove is more than gear, describing how he protects it, treats it, and keeps it ready for games.
A Chicago Cubs shortstop treating his glove like a prized companion is the kind of baseball detail that quietly captures what devotion to the game can look like.
Dansby Swanson, speaking from the Cubs’ clubhouse, traced his relationship with the glove back to childhood.. He recalled receiving what he described as a Mizuno “power flexes” glove when he was about 4 or 5. designed with a thumb slot that helped him close it despite limited strength at the time.. He said that glove, if he still has it, would likely be tucked away with family somewhere in Georgia.
For Swanson, the point was never just ownership.. He said his glove has always been something he cares for and protects. not something he throws around or leaves exposed to the rain like some young players do.. He described a habit that has stayed with him: setting the glove down instead of hurling it.
The significance of that mindset shows up in how he handles the glove now—at a level where routines become as personal as superstition.. In Swanson’s telling. the relationship is built on consistency: protecting the leather. controlling the break-in experience. and making sure the equipment feels the same from one moment to the next.
In the big leagues, Swanson’s go-to model is a Wilson A2K 1787, and he described it in exacting terms.. The glove measures 11¾ inches from the bottom of the heel to the tip of the index finger.. It’s made with dark-brown-dyed cowhide leather, with accents of red and blue intended to reflect the Cubs’ colors.. On the thumb. the glove is inscribed with “All Dai. ” honoring an old high school and college friend. Dai-Jon Parker. who died in a tubing accident.
Swanson keeps the glove set apart in his locker, including during travel.. He said it has its own shelf, and when he flies, it comes with its own carrying case.. Before the Cubs boarded their flight to Texas after a Thursday game against the Reds. he massaged the glove with mink oil.. He explained the reasoning plainly: the oil coats and protects the leather. moisturizes it. and helps counter drying that can happen on flights.
He estimates he gives the glove that treatment about once a week, always before a road trip.. While he may not know where his earliest glove is now. he said he never worries about losing the A2K 1787.. In the dugout. he leaves it on the third step. and if it’s not there. he assumes someone moved it without asking.
Swanson also described an unwritten boundary among teammates.. Other players can touch the glove, he said, but “no one” should put a hand inside it.. He said he considers it a rule of his own preparation. leaving it sealed up in its case and not using it until regular-season games. while keeping it out of spring training.
When the season ends. most equipment is stored back in the clubhouse. but Swanson takes the glove home with him—suggesting his care is not seasonal. but ongoing.. He also credits a long-running relationship with a Wilson representative from Chicago. Scott Paulson. who has supplied him with his glove dating back to Swanson’s Vanderbilt days. when Wilson was a client and Swanson played for the Commodores.
At Vanderbilt. Swanson said he even named his gloves. including one he called “Charlotte.” Every spring. Paulson supplies him with two or three new gloves. but Swanson chooses the same one as his game glove each year since the pandemic year of 2020.. He described keeping a glove in game use for years as a kind of endurance test. noting it has had about seven seasons of shelf life—yet he said he isn’t thinking about replacing it anytime soon.
He framed his answer to replacement as a hope for longevity: “I hope it lasts the rest of my career.” From his perspective. the A2K 1787 isn’t only durable; it’s also uniquely calibrated to how he wants the leather to feel.. Swanson said he’s “very feel-oriented,” and that no other glove broken in has matched what this one provides.
He described it as an extension of his hand. adding that he does not do anything special to break in gloves and that he has never tried to.. He said what fascinates him about gloves is that leather can be similar at the source yet behave differently once it’s stretched. laced. and dyed.. In his view, those differences become legible during use.
Swanson said he can detect minute changes in size—knowing when the glove is 11¾ inches and preferring it to shrink to 11⅝.. He compared his perception to how a basketball player might notice whether a rim is precisely set.. The comparison was meant to convey that for Swanson, this glove is not interchangeable; it is specific to him.
The care also includes an emotional element toward the brand.. He said he feels “bad” at times because he believes Wilson has consistently done what he asks—treating him. in his words. like family.. His point was that he can often touch a glove and sense quickly whether it’s right or not. implying a level of familiarity that goes beyond typical customer satisfaction.
He linked the feel to the leather’s structure. saying there is softness but also firmness and stiffness. and that he tends to prefer the stiffness.. If he can bend the glove around the first time he puts his hand in it. he considers it too soft.. He contrasted his preference with Nico Hoerner’s. saying Hoerner likes his glove super-stiff all the time. while Swanson’s ideal is formed perfectly: stiff around the edges but with everything else supple and soft.
Swanson’s accomplishments have come while using the same glove style of preparation.. He has won two Gold Gloves at shortstop. with the first for the Braves in 2022 and the second in his first season with the Cubs in 2023.. He also reflected on the position itself. noting that shortstop has traditionally been thought of as “glove-first. bat-second. ” even as that traditional definition shifted with the arrival of figures such as Cal Ripken Jr.. and successors including Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Nomar Garciaparra.
His connection to shortstop also runs back to what he watched when he was young.. He said he wore out an old VHS tape called “Superstar Shortstops. ” a montage of fielding plays by shortstops from the era of Luis Aparicio.. When the Cubs were rained out last month in Cleveland. he returned to the content by clicking on the same “Superstar Shortstops” on YouTube.
He said he has watched it repeatedly and that it’s part of why he fell in love with the position.. He named Nomar Garciaparra as a favorite. describing “something about his game. ” and he also mentioned Derek Jeter—saying he has had conversations with him through shared agency and that he has an appreciation for being great at what one does.
Whatever greatness Swanson has experienced in his career, he said the A2K 1787 has been part of it, even though he has not yet given the glove a new label. If he does, he indicated, he already has a name in mind: “Old Reliable.”
In a sport built on repetition—fielding grounders. catching angles. and building timing—Swanson’s glove routine highlights how equipment can become part of an athlete’s identity.. The care he describes suggests that for some players. the smallest details of leather and maintenance aren’t distractions; they’re the foundation for feeling ready the moment the game begins.
For readers, the story offers a clear window into a quieter side of baseball culture: not just performance, but how routines and attachments to tools shape the way athletes experience the sport. Misryoum
Dansby Swanson Cubs baseball gloves Gold Glove Wilson A2K 1787