Emery Glove Company | Brand Spotlight

Within the world of sports and sporting goods, some people and ideas just come together at the perfect time.

In 1998, a solo mission by Mark McGwire to break the single-season home run mark of 61 would have been memorable. But the emergence of Sammy Sosa to join him in the quest made it a summer that is now indelible in many fan’s memories.

Around that same time, Sam Holman was sharing a drink with a friend who happened to be a pro baseball scout. The scout told Sam that ash wood bats were breaking too often and wanted to see if Sam, an experienced woodworker, knew of a better option. Holman determined that maple wood was the way to go and Sam Bats were born. The maple bat made its way to Joe Carter, who eventually got it to Barry Bonds, who eventually broke McGwire’s three year old single-season record of 70 home runs…with one of Holman’s maple bats. Maple bats now dominate the professional bat market.

As we reign ourselves in and turn back to the glove sector of the baseball sporting goods industry, we think an arrangement of people and ideas has already come together (and continues to do so) to help shoot the brand Emery into the awareness of many ball players and glove enthusiasts.

Please keep reading to learn of the incredible rise of Emery!

A Coach’s Idea

In 2020, Kevin Schneider was the head baseball coach of Immaculata University, a Division III school located about 30 miles west of Philadelphia. Things looked promising for his future as he had led his team to multiple seasons with win-loss records above .500.

But unbeknownst to many, while Kevin was leading Immaculata to success on the ball diamond, he was also dabbling in a side project: baseball gloves. 

As a prep and college player, Schneider was who you might call a “glove guy”. In the early 2000s, when glove colors were traditional and custom gloves were hard to come by, Kevin somehow got in contact with a manufacturer in Japan to send him a red glove to match his high school team’s colors. Even better, he had the manufacturer embroider his name into it. A passion for gloves was already growing.

After attending Monmouth University where he was a standout pitcher, Schneider poured himself into a career of coaching. He went from travel ball, to high school coaching and finally to Immaculata. While at Immaculata he began devoting a significant amount of research and development into gloves. And it was more than typing “how to make a baseball glove” into an internet search bat and hitting “enter”. He was getting samples of gloves and finding what he liked about one and what he didn’t like about another. 

Those years of side work in gloves, finally culminated after the pandemic shortened season of 2020.  He gave up the reins as the head coach of Immaculata once he felt that he could “roll [his gloves] out there with anybody in the world”. Emery Glove Company was launched.

The Right People

There’s a common adage in business, in sports and even in life: ”It’s all about who you know”.

And while there is probably room for discussion on the biggest contributors to success, your network of friends and acquaintances definitely carries immense value. 

Schneider’s brother, John, has been linked to Toronto’s big league franchise for over 20 years. More so, John has worked closely with Blue Jays superstar, Vladimir Guerrero Jr, since he first came to the organization as a 16 year old prospect. Through John, Kevin had gotten to form a bit of a relationship with Vlad Jr as well.

In 2021, Vlad Jr was elected to represent the American League squad at the All Star game. And Kevin’s mind was turning in preparation for the game as he pondered, “What can we do that’s…really cool for Vladdy”. 

Schneider recalled that there was a fantastic picture of Vladimir Guerrero Jr with his Hall of Fame father, Vlad Sr, on a ball field during the mid-2000s. He discovered that there was a way for them to print this iconic image onto leather. Kevin and the folks at Emery Glove Company went to work and the final product was absolute mastery…

Stuntin’ like his Vladdy!

Presenting Jr.’s #AllStarGame Glove 🤩 pic.twitter.com/wYMkkwg7Y2

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 13, 2021

Images and videos of the first base mitt at the All Star game went viral. Kevin and his burgeoning glove company were given credit on the biggest news outlet for professional baseball. The Emery Glove Company was officially on the map.

A Flag Bearer For Emery

With the Vlad Jr mitt going viral among the baseball community, awareness for Emery Gloves had officially taken root. But could they make it last?

Guerrero Jr was under contract with another glove company and he would not be able to consistently wear Emery on the field during Toronto’s games.

But for the 2022 season, Philadelphia’s Nick Castellanos made the switch to Emery Gloves. And he didn’t just passively join the squad. Look at him showing up to the stadium during the Philly’s 2022 postseason run:

Arriving with your glove on is a whole new type of swagger. #postseason pic.twitter.com/o4Gr1IkEzw

— MLB (@MLB) October 21, 2022

Emery’s presence was now being solidified within the professional realm with the help of a star.

More Of The Right People

Also during 2022, Marcus Gurule (commonly called “G”) was working as an active duty military member who ran a complete glove repair business.

As you search through Instagram and Twitter, you’ll find a number of individuals who offer the service of glove relacing. However, not many offer to fix the binding, stitching or the entire inner hand lining of a glove if it has rotted out. G offered these rare services through his company, Guts and Glory Trading. And because he offered total restoration of gloves, he was able to create extremely unique content that allowed his Guts and Glory Instagram account to expand impressively. His fame within the glove world eventually made its way to Kevin Schneider.

For their custom glove experience, Emery had been looking for a way to create inner hand liners that were more unique to how certain players would wear their glove (i.e. two fingers in the pinky slot -vs- standard). They found that G could help bring that level of precision to their custom glove process and made him an official part of their squad.

Something New For The Glove World

Alternative backings have long been a topic of interest on baseball gloves. The thought is that you can place a non-leather material on the backing of a glove and receive a benefit that leather won’t provide: lighter weight, more strength, water repellency, etc…

With G’s military experience, he knew of a material that might work for a glove backing: Cordura. The website Canvas Etc. describes Cordura as “a synthetic…fabric that is strong and durable.” They comment as well that since it was created nearly a century ago, it has been used heavily by the military. Most recently, the material is “lending itself to backpacks and luggage, but also jackets and tactical gear.” Emery's site adds that Cordura material offers the below-listed benefits:

• Lightweight
• Abrasion Resistant
• Tear Resistant
• UV Resistant
• Water Repellant

Emery has actually dubbed this release of Cordura-backed gloves as their Batch Zero models and we are incredibly excited to have them. From the JustGloves perspective, we think that the most obvious benefit you’ll experience when you put one of these gloves on your hand, is how lightweight it feels. 

Check out our friend and affiliate Chris Bangert (aka Ball Glove King) singing the praises of Emery’s cordura material…

The Glove Market Has Taken Notice

On August 29th of 2023, it was announced that Chandler Bats had acquired Emery Gloves.

According to research conducted by the site What Pros Wear during 2022, over 10% of hitters in the highest level of professional baseball were using Chandler Bats. This is an impressive amount when you consider some of the industry giants within the wood baseball bat market.

In the world of wood bats, Chandler is still a relatively new presence, but has gained a foothold within the last decade. JustGloves imagines that the progress made and lessons learned by Chandler will be extremely vital as they look to increase the usage of Emery gloves within a market that also features some titans atop its hierarchy.

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It's undeniable that people have come together to help the Emery Glove Company to make its rise.

A portion of the credit has to be given to the work ethic of those within the company walls. From what JustGloves has seen, we’re confident that Kevin Schneider, Nick Castellanos, Marcus Gurule and their entire support team will continue to put forth effort and give Emery Gloves a chance to become something remarkable within the ball glove industry!

If you have more questions about the gloves being produced by Emery...please message our team of glove Experts! They can be reached on the phone at 866-321-4568, through email via experts@justgloves.com or you LIVE CHAT here!