Royals win extends local product buzz

The Kansas City Royals’ win last night means one more game of exposure for a small product developed in Springfield.

Thumb Buddy creator Todd Young said he’s seen camera shots of Royals players Alcides Escobar, Billy Butler and Nori Aoki wearing his product over their batting gloves. A commercial painter by trade, Young originally developed the “blister resister” to protect painters’ thumbs from the long hours of holding a bucket, can or spray gun.

He said more than a dozen Major League Baseball teams, including the two playing in Game 7 of the World Series tonight, have ordered boxes of the Thumb Buddy to help absorb impact from hitting or catching the baseball.

“I got a text last night asking who on the Giants was wearing them,” Young said. “I don’t know. They wear them under their gloves.”

During the Royals playoff run, Young said he shipped a box of 50 overnight to the team two weeks ago. It was their sixth order this year.

Young said he’ll be glued to the tube tonight to try and catch glimpses of his Thumb Buddy.

“They’re Royal blue in color,” he said, noting the manufacturer in China also produces red and black varieties. “That’s how I know who is wearing them. They order online or I see it on TV.”

The product’s shift to baseball began around 2005 when Joe Cunningham worked as hitting coach for the Springfield Cardinals. The minor league players began wearing them and word spread up to the big leagues. Now, team trainers for the Oakland Athletics, Atlanta Braves and Arizona Diamondbacks, for example, place orders and others are shipped directly to players, including former St. Louis Cardinals player Allen Craig, now with the Boston Red Sox.

Young said Thumb Buddy orders also are sent to a baseball team in Japan; locally the Missouri State University Lady Bears softball team wears them.

“I haven’t quit my day job, but who knows,” Young said.[[In-content Ad]]