Worth's 'First-Up' youth baseball glove designed at WVU

CONTACT:
Dan Tryon 304-293-3612, ext. 734; Jack Byrd 304-293-3612, ext. 703; Tim Lord, Worth, Inc. 1-800-282-9637, ext. 219

Worth's 'First-Up' youth baseball glove designed at WVU

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- A national sporting goods company's pitch to a West Virginia University faculty member may become a hit with youth baseball and softball players- in-training.

Tim Lord, a WVU alumnus at Worth, Inc., asked WVU Industrial Engineering professor Jack Byrd to brainstorm on ideas that would help young, inexperienced baseball and softball players field batted balls. Worth produces baseball and softball gloves, bats and other equipment. Lord and Byrd observed t-ballers and youth leaguers using their gloves more as shields than fielding devices and considered a lighter, more pliable mitt with a wider pocket.

"When we started working on this, the initial thinking was about children's hands and the limitations of their hands," Byrd said. "They couldn't get the glove to collapse around the ball because the glove was too heavy and their fingers weren't strong enough to close the glove." These observations led Lord and Byrd to the Discovery Lab, a component of WVU's Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and Development (CESD), where manager Dan Tryon and student Juan Zayas designed a lightweight, ergonomically improved glove that went on sale in November, 1997.

Called First-Up, the new glove resembles a mitten or first baseman's mitt with an extra- wide pocket and finger holes outside rather than inside.

Lord said the extra-wide pocket was created to cover a 10 o'clock, 2 o'clock position rather than the 12 o'clock, 2 o'clock area traditional gloves use. Advertised as, "the first glove pattern designed for a small hand," it is made of lightweight leather, reinforced with foam and created to help youth-leaguers catch batted balls. It is recommended for ages 5-7 or younger. (To see an image of the glove see Worth Inc.'s web site: http://www.worthinc.com/products/).

"When parents buy this glove for their children, they can't even get their hand inside it, so it's very different from any glove ever made," said Lord. "It's a great tool for children who are just learning to catch."

Byrd said designing the glove was an unusual project for the Discovery Lab, a clearinghouse WVU established in the late 1980s for inventors who need help getting their ideas off the ground and businesses who are looking for ways to compete more effectively, either through marketing or management strategies.

"We usually don't get involved in designing a new product," Byrd said, "but this was a special case."

Tryon, a former public school teacher in New York, earned his master's degree at WVU in 1995 and became Discovery Lab manager shortly thereafter. He is supported by a student or two but often turns to Byrd who targets WVU students or classes to work on specific projects. Tryon also visits with school children and gives them inventing tips.

WVU does not charge inventors or businesses for this service. For example, WVU gets no sales royalties from Worth on sales of First-Up.

"Our goal is to improve economic and entrepreneurial growth throughout the state," Tryon said.

However, WVU may be the recipient of a unique benefit from Worth. Byrd, an avid softball player, said Worth sponsors a College of Engineering and Mineral Resources softball team, providing bats and other equipment.

He said he hopes to arrange for Worth to also similarly support WVU intramurals.

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