Seen at the (New) Gym...

The TVs were tuned to the College World Series (although for a few terrifying and nauseating minutes, the one directly in front of me was on Wife Swap).

I noticed all the players wore gloves when they batted. I'm not sure what I feel about this. Now, I should mention at the outset that I am in no way some great ballplayer. If Clark Kent tossed me underhand slowpitch softballs and I swung a kryptonite bat, I'd go one for four, and that only because the scorekeeper felt sorry for me and ruled a hit the error that let me on base.

But on the other hand, let's look at some numbers. The last guy to average better than .400 in a season was Ted Williams, who hit .406 in 1941. The last guy to come close to hitting .400 was George Brett with a .390 in 1980. Neither wore batting gloves. Brett is the only guy to win batting titles in three different decades, and as mentioned, he didn't wear batting gloves (He was known to prefer an alternate method of improving his grip). The baseball equipment company he owns with his brothers does not sell batting gloves.

Take the top 100 seasonal batting averages in baseball and the only guy who makes the list who wore batting gloves is Larry Walker, whose 1999 mark of .379 ranks 96th.

In fact, since Rusty Staub became one of the first players to wear batting gloves regularly in 1969, Brett and Walker are the only two to have a season-long batting average among the top 100. Supposedly Ken Harrelson was the first player to wear a glove in a regular season game, when he donned a red golf glove to protect his blistered hands on Sept. 4, 1964 in Kansas City, as his Athletics played the Yankees. Harrelson said he hit the ball an estimated 450 feet, and wore gloves the rest of his career. His career average was .239.

In unrelated news, I debuted in the Kansas City area two days later, and I am told the doctor wore gloves as well. I don't know if he followed the Cosby childbirth method, which would have made the glove a catcher's mitt.

So before gloves, lots and lots of seasonal averages among the best 100 in baseball history. After gloves, exactly two, and only one of those players wore gloves.

Someone should do the math.