Decades of offshoring have decimated American manufacturing. One baseball glove factory remains to preserve a community and a culture.
Baseball may be America’s pastime, but in Nocona, Texas, it’s a way of life. That’s a common refrain in small-town America, but here of all places it’s true. Noconans craft their identity on more than ephemeral high school seasons or the glory of a former star. Known as the “Leather Goods Center of the Southwest,” generations of its residents have worked at Nokona, the eponymous company that’s made baseball gloves in the city for nearly a century. Yet behind the craftsmanship and storied legacy, Noconans like Kim York recognize the somber truth: Nokona is the last glovemaker in America. “It still really shocks me,” York said. “We think about it all the time.”
