Last week, we had another “Question of the Week” from Mike Chamernik, and he’s back today with his latest QOTW.
Enjoy!
Question of the Week
by Mike Chamernik
After more than 25 years of playing baseball and now slow-pitch softball, I finally have my own bat.
For years, I just used whatever people brought and threw in the bat rack. This year I’m on a new 16-inch softball team, and none of my teammates’ bats are any good. I decided to spend the money and get something nice. (An aside: only one company makes bats for 16-inch Chicago-style softball anymore, so it’s slim pickings out there).
When have you splurged on a piece of equipment? How big of a difference did it make, either for how well you played, or how much you enjoyed playing? What are some equipment, apparel or accessories that you need to always buy a premium version of — where bargains just aren’t worth it? Are there any manufacturers or certain models that are the gold standard of the sports or games you play?
There are hundreds of different sorts of indoor basketballs you can buy, but when I played pickup hoops, I noticed everyone had a Wilson Evolution. It was clear why: the ball is soft and has the truest bounce. Other basketballs were too slick or too hard, or didn’t bounce well.
Thanks, Mike — another really great topic this week!
Normally I’d insert a curling anecdote here (curlers basically have only two — but both are very important — pieces of equipment: brooms and shoes), but back when I was a fairly serious tennis player, I was extremely picky about my rackets. No matter what model I was using at the time, I would own three or four of them, and I tried to have every single one as close to all the others as possible. That meant, every racket would have the same size grip, the same strings at the same tension, and weighted as close to the same as possible. That way, if I broke a string (I usually broke at least one string every two matches, sometimes less), whichever racket I would grab out of my bag to replace the racket with the broken string would “play” exactly as the other one had. Did I mention I have been diagnosed with mild OCD?
Sports equipment was one of the rare things I splurged on if I felt the more expensive item was superior to a lower-priced one — and I think somewhere in the back reaches of my mind I thought if I had the “best” equipment, it would give me an advantage over my opponent(s). Of course, I found out rather quickly no piece of equipment would help me beat a far superior player, but in my head I felt that at least if I had the best, I had a chance, whereas if I were using something inferior, my game would suffer as well.
I’m very anxious to hear how our readers answer the question. Fire away!
In the soccer world, especially as you age, I feel that leather cleats are necessary (nike tiempo, puma king, or adidas copa). Your touch is so much more clean, foot is comfortable, and they last and get worn in like a baseball glove. The newer cleats design with glue and light materials last a year at max. Hope that bat does you well!
Speaking of soccer cleats, I convinced my parents that I needed white Adidas predators my senior year of high school–not sure they made a ton of difference in my play, but I felt cool as hell.
That makes a lot of sense. Your feet are obviously everything in soccer
I finally got a true, pro-level outfield glove senior year of high school. Same model as Junior Griffey, the Trap-Eze. I worked SO hard on getting it not only broken in, but broken in on all the right spots. I still have it today, and it’s still in great condition. I don’t know that it made an ACTUAL difference in the field, but it felt special to wear every time I took the field that season.
I always wanted a glove like that
I treated myself to the “stickier” broomball shoes coming out of the pandemic. They were initially a little controversial, but quickly became standard.
My first couple of seasons back after the layoff, I was a lot more successful. My second season, I was about a goal a game player. I realized there were a few reasons:
I was in better shape
the goalies weren’t as good
I had the new shoes and not everybody else did yet
The rest of the league caught up pretty quickly, I developed a knee problem and I lost my advantage. Now, I’m lucky to score a goal a season.
Traction is everything.
Similarly, I play softball, and some people play in regular sneakers. I don’t know how people can run and change directions without spikes. I forgot my spikes a few times in Little League and I was sliding around
“Splurge” in my case is relative. In 1965 I was 13 and playing first base and the outfield in my North Jersey town and needed a new glove. The 50s-era Al Smith model I’d been using was outdated and kind of shabby. I took a chunk of my paper route saving to the family owned sporting goods store in my town and spent (I think) $12 on a Rawlings Wally Bunker model glove, the biggest glove in the place. It was a beauty and the fact that it was endorsed by my team’s (the Orioles) ’64 rookie pitching sensation made it all the more special. Wally Bunker’s career didn’t last long and he never came close to repeating his ’64 glory but now, at 72, I still own and occasionally use, my Rawlings Bunker model. It could use a refurb (Jimmy Lonetti, I may have a job for you) but the leather is still in decent shape, a fact I attribute to the gallons of neatsfoot oil I used on it as a kid.
Love it!
The only time I upgraded my sports equipment was when I bought a can of metallic gold spray paint to redo my old black soccer cleats I wore to my weekly pick up soccer games. Those few weeks I painted them I definitely felt like I played better, but I can’t recall any stats to back that up.
My dad spray painted his spikes white, back when the A’s were winning World Series titles
My one splurge is some of my running apparel – I really like tracksmith. I’m not one to buy the fanciest shoes for running (I need stability shoes for overpronation), but the tracksmith gear is definitely more comfortable than the nike our discount stuff I had been wearing.
Good shoes with some cushion and bounce are so important
Not sports, but I play bass guitar and had a basic black Mexican-made Fender Jazz bass for years. During the pandemic (and after a few drinks admittedly) I treated myself to a new white American-made Jazz bass. To the casual onlooker the only change you’d notice is the color, but it is a couple pounds lighter which makes it much easier to play for a longer time. The “action” or space between the strings and the fretboard, is much closer and holds its place MUCH better.
The new guitar cost 4 times as much as the original, but it was a great investment. My playing got exponentially better within months.
And as far as accessories, a padded strap has made all the difference in the world while playing two-hour sets.
Fascinating! I like when seemingly small differences are actually incredibly important
From house league inline hockey down in New Orleans, my friends would skimp on the hidden stuff (shoulder pads, shinguards, etc) because honestly lighter can be thought of as better, but everything visible (helmets, gloves, etc)…hoo boy that’s where the swag was. And you’d have to get a high end model for the fun colors. Basic models were black helmets, white helmets, black gloves, maybe some red or blue trim on black gloves…but if you wanted a blue helmet or yellow gloves, that’s your Xmas gift, lol.
I was mostly a goalie, so I remember an amazing upgrade from a street hockey grade Franklin goalie mask (man, I could have had a concussion from a tennis ball despite that mask) to an amazing Itech Profile 2000. White with a black cage. Chrome cages weren’t a thing back then. I must have been 10 years old. That, and a perfect chest and arm protector (as massive as possible while being light and flexible for me…some goalies just need to be big and stiff to minimize leaks, but I liked feeling mobile)…those helped me feel good enough as a goalie to be great.
Haha Franklin. Bless them for making inexpensive equipment, great for kids playing a sport for the first time. But yeah if you are in any way even somewhat serious about a sport, you gotta upgrade from Franklin
Echoing the comments about soccer shoes. When I was a kid, I would literally sleep with my new boots for the first few nights like they were stuffed animals. Now, I probably get a new pair every three to five years on average, but the feeling is almost the same.
The most significant splurge of my life was probably the glove my dad bought me when I got into baseball seriously. I inherited his standards when it comes to buying just about anything – quality comes first. He got me a $300 Easton Stealth infielder’s glove, which was 11.25″, which was like a Ferrari compared to the <$50 gloves my teammates had from the hardware store. The investment was almost immediately justified by the reaction of my coaches and camp counsellors, who all tried to use it whenever they got a chance. I still have it to this day, and while sadly it's too small to use for softball, I do bring it to the park whenever I play catch with family and friends.
I feel ya. I used run of the mill gloves I got from Sports Authority, mid-tier priced. Every so often I’d borrow an actual good glove and the differences were stark. The leather was softer, the pocket was deeper, all that.
I once skimped on hockey shin guards and ended up injuring my knee, so it was a painful lesson learned
I’ve always been a bargain hunter. About the only things I “splurged’ on were:
1). A USFL football. $25 back in 1984…pretty sure that was above average price then. A massive upgrade from kicking and punting with Nerf balls.
2). A brand new cup. Don’t skimp down there, fellas.
Haha. Side note, I’m still amazed that most MLB and NFL players don’t wear a cup.
My only real “splurge” was a pair of sports goggles when I was in high school. I needed to wear glasses but manage to break 3 pairs in a single season (not even in games, in practice!), and my parents were getting sick of having to replace them. They cost £140, a lot in mid-90s terms, but they lasted until my playing days ended in my late 20s – a good 12 years.
I play hockey, in my experience the stuff worth paying big bucks for is your skates and your helmet. Everything else you can find quality at a bargain if you look around. With sticks it’s important that you find one that works best for you. Which might not be the most expensive. There are some off brands that make quality sticks. The trick is finding the one that feels best to you.
That all makes sense. How often do hockey sticks break? I’d be hesitant in buying top-of-the-line sticks in they break all the time
Good stuff, everyone!
Through one game my new bat has made a difference. I hit some nice liners that I wasn’t able to do the first few games. My bat is heavy and dense, which makes a difference in 16-inch softball.
I used to play rec league ice hockey and I would always try to save as much money as possible so I would buy clearance or lower tier equipment. After having some issues with my feet and ankles I upgraded my skates. What a difference that made. I was much more comfortable. I also used to skate barefoot so I also had less blisters and calluses as well
I’ve been running in competitive orienteering races for 20+ years now, and while there isn’t a lot of equipment, there are some things that are worth it.
1) Grippy shoes shoes with deep rubber lugs, sometimes with small metal spikes. I usually run with spikeless as I find them a bit more comfortable, but having grip on your feet as you’re scrambling up a forested hillside is essential.
2) A stable thumb compass. Most mass-market compasses are generally pretty terrible for the fast-paced sport of orienteering. They either have needles that bounce around all over the place if you’re moving fast, or they have way too many features (sighting mirrors, highly-graduated degree markings) that you don’t actually need for the sport.
A thumb compass is great because it straps to the thumb of your map-holding hand (usually your non-dominant hand), meaning that your compass is *always* positioned on top of your race map, which facilitates keeping your map correctly oriented all the time. (A compass isn’t actually necessary for the sport, as it’s mostly about map-reading and decision-making, but using a compass to orient your map will never be wrong.)
More expensive thumb compasses are also highly dampened (using disc needles and a capsule liquid with a higher viscosity), meaning that the needle doesn’t bounce around a lot as you’re running over uneven terrain.
I don’t rely on my compass all that much, but I do like having it strapped to my thumb as opposed to a traditional baseplate compass hanging around my neck.
3) A *touchless* timing “punch”. This one requires a quick history lesson. In the early days of competitive orienteering, in order to prove that you successfully reached a checkpoint flag, you had to physically punch a punchcard that you carried. Each checkpoint’s punch had a different hole pattern, to prevent cheating.
Starting about 25-30 years ago, things went electronic with “e-punching”. Instead of a punchcard, you’d carry an electronic timing chip thing that straps to your index finger (usually on your dominant hand). And then at each checkpoint, you’d stick the end of your “e-punch” into the hole of a chip-reader that’s affixed to the checkpoint flag (for an everyday comparison of dexterity, think about dipping the top of a golf pencil into the top of a pop bottle).
This was a BIG improvement in the sport. Using an e-punch was much faster than punching a punchcard, and it made results processing so much better, as a computer at the finish line could immediately confirm that you completed the race course, give instant results, and also allow all competitors to see their split-times between checkpoints.
Within the past 10 years, the new tech is “touchless” e-punching. Instead of needing to stick the end of your e-punch into a hole, you pretty much just need to run by and wave your e-punch over the flag, and once your visit is recorded successfully, your e-punch will start beeping.
For orienteers, we own our own e-punches and bring them to whatever races we’re running (if you don’t own one, the hosting club will rent you one).
The touchless e-punches are more expensive, and you have to send them in every 3 years for a battery replacement (previous e-punches don’t require batteries). For a long time, I didn’t think having a touchless e-punch would be worth it. With my old e-punch, it only took a second or two to stick the e-punch into the hole. How much time could I realistically be saving?
Turns out, quite a bit! One race weekend I entered provided everyone with a rental touchless e-punch, and it was amazing! Not only is the actual physical motion slightly faster (waving overhead vs. sticking a golf pencil in a pop bottle), but because it’s so much easier in terms of dexterity, you can run full speed by the checkpoint and never stop. With regular e-punching, you’d have to slow your body to an almost-stop (if not a full stop), and then re-accelerate away again.
It’s probably at least a 3-second savings per checkpoint, which doesn’t sound like much, but in a race with, say, 20 checkpoints, that’s a full minute in savings. Some races can be as short as 10-15 minutes, so that can be a big advantage!
To prove this point with a real example… 16 months ago I was in a race against a guy ~15 years younger than me. In high school, he won state championships in both orienteering and cross country (meaning that he knew what he was doing and fast). He focused on XC in college and then starting his career, so he only came back to orienteering just a few years ago. But he’s still way faster than me!
In this race, I had a touchless e-punch, and he did not. This was a very short race (~10 minutes) but with a lot of checkpoints (~25). What ended up happening is that we were about even. I’d run by a flag and wave. He’d have to stop, punch, and re-start. Then about when he’d catch up with me, we’d be at the next checkpoint. I’d wave without stopping. He’d have to stop and catch up. Immediately after crossing the finish line, he said me “I need to get me one of those new punches!”. He has one now.
Shoes are always worth the splurge if you’re running or walking great distances. After all they’re the only thing keeping you off the ground. I also notice the difference with bikes/bike equipment. Some of it is a matter of tuning more than quality/price, but you notice the benefit of a well built bike over a cheapo one.
“they’re the only thing keeping you off the ground” I love little nuggets of wisdom like this about common things in our lives.
Skiing in high school and college in the late 1970s I bought really nice skis, Rossignol Strato 102, and they were great. They were worth it. I also bought really nice surfboards from a shaper in Surfside, CA, Bruce Jones Surfboards. Definitely worth it.
My biggest splurge was for having a cobbler convert a pair of well-fitting Adidas tennis shoes into curling shoes. I went with the thickest sliders I could buy for the right shoe, and I found that in fact good shoes make a heck of a difference. With just the change of equipment alone, from cheap intro curling shoes with thin slider discs to shoes with really thick sliders, I went from being barely able to deliver hack weight to being able to throw true peel weight. It became difficult to throw guard weight! I had to modify my slide and develop different slide techniques to adapt to the radically improved performance the shoes gave me.
Curling is not a sport with a lot of equipment; I’d say, shoes, broom, and head protection are the keys. Soccer headgear solves the danger of a headstrike on the ice in a fall. Some brooms are marginally better than others, but sweeper technique is way more impactful. But shoes, shoes can make a world of difference for a club curler. If you’re gonna spend any money on equipment in curling, devote as much of your budget as possible to shoes.
Don’t splurge that much on equipment. I’ve got a 10 cent shot, so I don’t need a $100 much less a $200+ stick. Have usually got used skates, but bought a new mid level pair of CCM skates when one of the main local hockey stores went out of business, and some old stock new CCM goal skates online.
Still wearing the old Jofa 390 and 290 helmets as a player and in goal. Also still wearing Tackla pants. The Tackla pants have always offered good protection. The type of foam in those Jofa helmets doesn’t go hard with age like others of a similar era (such as Cooper with their off-white rubatex type foam). Have a variety of colours to choose from in goal – including a yellow 290 and a green 390.