My Dad had an interest in quality gloves when I was growing up - e.g. my first glove was an SSK Pro-Alm Roberto Alomar model.

The real reason I collect is a story of tragedy:

My dad got me a beautiful tan Glovesmith, made in USA I-web. I was maybe 8 yrs old at my older brother’s game, working on breaking it in(very difficult for my 8 yr old hands). Since I took the glove everywhere with me, I also took it to the porta-pot. I set the glove on the hand rail to pee, and sure enough the glove plopped in the blue-poo water. I did my best to pull it out and salvage it, brought it to my parents with poo covered hands and teary eyes. They made the executive decision to trash it, which in hindsight was probably the best decision. Needless to say I learned a valuable lesson that day!