Some baseball historians suggest Art "Foxy" Irwin invented the baseball glove while others more cautiously describe him as having "popularized" the glove. Another source says Irwin was credited with inventing the "infielder's glove."

At any rate, Irwin, also known as "Doc," was a baseball pioneer from Canada. He was born in Toronto on Feb. 14, 1858 and raised in Boston. He took up baseball and by 1880 was one of the best shortstops in the game. At this point in the game's development, infielders like Irwin caught balls with their bare hands.

However, around 1883 a hard hit ball broke two fingers on Irwin's left hand and rather than waiting for them to heal, he bought a buckskin glove that was a bit too big, added some padding, inserted the fingers inside and kept playing. Within a couple of years several players were using what was know as the "Irwin Glove." For what it's worth, Irwin had an outstanding fielding percentage, well over .800 consistently. But Chip Martin, a London, Ont. writer, has been researching the early days of baseball and says a catcher, named Phil Powers, with the London Tecumsehs started using a primitive glove in 1878. Others were also beginning to try out new equipment at the time.

Nevertheless, Irwin was an interesting figure. He batted left, threw right, was five-foot eight-and-a-half inches tall and weighed 158 pounds. He played with a variety of teams in his 13-year career. In addition to his role in introducing the baseball glove, he led a player's revolt in 1890, managed a team in Toronto in the 1890s, was a National League umpire in 1902, introduced professional baseball to Cuba, and initiated the system of baseball scouting.

Irwin was apparently depressed about having to handle two marriages at the same time and on July 16, 1921 jumped overboard and drowned while sailing on the liner "The Calvin Austin" between New York and Boston.