Will Klein revealed Wednesday that he recently got a custom baseball mitt with an actual Pokemon card built into it, turning a routine piece of equipment into something closer to a collector’s item. The glove was made by 44 Pro, the company that has been making custom gloves for Klein and other athletes for years.
44 Pro asked Klein what his favorite Pokemon was, and he did not hesitate. “Obviously I said Tyranitar because that’s the only right answer,” he said. The glove came wrapped in foil when it arrived, and once it was opened, a Tyranitar card could be seen prominently on the webbing. It is all Dodger blue with red accents, a fitting look for a Dodgers pitcher who says he is a massive Pokemon fan.
Klein said he is not sure whether the glove can actually be used in a game, but he made clear that practicality is not the point. “It’s probably now the coolest thing I own,” he said. He later added that, beyond Tyranitar, he also has love for Nidoking, Flygon and Swampert, a reminder that the choice of favorite was never going to be a simple one.
The glove lands in the middle of a long-running relationship between Klein and 44 Pro, which has created custom gloves for him and other athletes for years. The difference this time is the card inside the leather, a detail that turns a player’s gear into a one-off piece of fan culture. For Klein, that makes the mitt less like equipment and more like a keepsake, whether or not it ever sees a game.
The only real unanswered question is whether Klein will be allowed to take it onto the field. For now, the answer matters less than the fact that he already has something he clearly prizes, and that a company built around baseball gear managed to thread his childhood obsession straight into the glove itself.