D&J Glove Repair Attracts a Home Crowd
Above the pennants, bobbleheads, and signed balls showcasing decades worth of Major League Baseball history, a framed Rawlings advertisement from the 1950s hangs inside D&J Glove Repair in Minneapolis.
“A baseball glove is a beginning and an ending, a boy’s first sure step toward manhood, a man’s final lingering hold on youth. It is a promise, a memory,” the sign reads. “A baseball glove is a dusty badge of belonging, the tanned and oiled mortar of team and camaraderie. In its creases and scuffs slots sunburned afternoons speckled with thrills … 1,001 names and moments strung like white and crimson banners in the vast stadium of memory.”
For Jimmy Lonetti, owner and “J” of the shop’s name, a glove is not just a piece of equipment ballplayers use and replace occasionally; rather, he says, it is “an extension of my arm.”
Lonetti never expected his retirement hobby to grow into a brick-and-mortar business in the Longfellow neighborhood. He took care of his son’s Little League glove so he didn’t have to keep buying new ones, and teammates began asking for tune-ups on their own gloves, which continued as his son traded the Little League field for the diamond at his high school and later at St. Mary’s University.
“There are details you need to know, and in most cases, you’re not going to find that addressed at a shoe repair shop….”
—Jimmy Lonetti, D&J Glove Repair
His circle of clients grew along with his son, eventually leading to the birth of D&J Glove Repair in 2010 with the help of a friend in advertising and an eighth-grader who set up the website.
As one of the few shops in the country focused on glove repair—if not the only one—Lonetti knows his business serves a niche market. He tries to expand the circle with Twins watch parties, including free hot dogs and Cracker Jack, which, married with his signature craftsmanship, creates a unique atmosphere.
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“There’s really a little community bubbling up around the shop,” says Lonetti. “There are details you need to know, and in most cases, you’re not going to find that addressed at a shoe repair shop or [other] places that might offer glove repair.” Lonetti says roughly half the gloves he takes care of come from across the country.
New gloves must be broken in to loosen the leather and create a pocket for the ball based on the player’s specific hand shape, a process Nike estimates can take several weeks of wear and play. Once a glove is tailored to the person’s hand, that connection can last a lifetime. Lonetti says that many of his repairs come from parents inspired by their kids to dust off their own gloves that have fallen into disrepair after decades of disuse.
“That’s the whole shopping experience that I’m trying to sell here,” says Lonetti. “It’s very nostalgic.”
