Leather larceny:Boone signs off on glove

Second baseman Bret Boone of the Mariners likes to throw the leather around when he's at the ballpark.

Now he just wants it back.

One young fan made off with Boone's glove before the game last night during an impromptu autograph session at Safeco Field.

"If whoever reads this brings it back, I'll give him something," said Boone, who was more amused than upset.

The inadvertent leather larceny occurred after Boone had taken batting practice. He started signing autographs for fans behind the dugout. He was there about 10 minutes signing balls, bats, gloves and papers passed down to him.

"Someone gave me a glove to sign and I thought it was his glove that I had in hand," Boone said. "So I signed it and threw it up there. Then, a couple minutes later, I looked for my glove and it was nowhere around."

He asked one of the security officers to try to find the missing mitt, but the boy had disappeared.

"It wasn't his fault," Boone said. "He didn't think he was getting away with anything. He thought I was giving him my glove."

It wasn't Boone's game glove or, as the Mariner pointed out, "there would have been a bigger scene," he said. Instead, it was a glove he was breaking in.

Now some Little Leaguer, with substantially upgraded equipment, may do that for him.