Nelson Cortes' 44 Glove Is Causing Controversy — But Where Did That Number Come From?

New York Yankees baseball player Nestor Cortes is a beast at pitching. He’s nailed his strategy down to a T and is known for wearing unique cleats and/or gloves during games. For example, he recently debuted mustache cleats and has previously repped the Cuban Flag on his glove.

But as of late, one of his gloves created some trouble amongst the opposing team. What was Nestor wearing on his glove that was so problematic? Here's everything we know.

On April 9, the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 5 to 3. But during the game, umpire Bill Miller made an interesting call. In between innings, he pulled Nestor aside to discuss his glove.

Nestor was donning an all-black glove with the No. 44 stitched in white. He had used it earlier that week during a game against the Phillies where it had raised no issues.

But this time around, it was allegedly distracting to the Orioles, which prompted Bill to ask Nestor to cover it up. Nestor obliged and the No. 44 was covered up in black so Nestor's glove looked entirely white.

Fans had a lot to say about the incident, with many outraged that the famed player was forced to cover up the number.

Nonetheless, Nestor's glove fix didn't seem to help the Orioles as they still lost the game.

Given that Nestor's uniform number is 65, many folks have been wondering why his glove had the No. 44 on it in the first place.

As Kevin Craig wrote on Twitter: "The home plate umpire in Baltimore was apparently unaware that 44 is a brand of glove," which is true. Nestor was wearing a glove from brand 44 Pro Gloves which, naturally, was marked with the brand's logo.

Strangely enough, there was a similar glove incident in the sports world just one day prior to Nestor covering up his glove. However, this incident happened during a lacrosse match.

Dubbed #GloveGate, the Ohio State Buckeyes were penalized during a game against the Maryland Terrapins on April 8, after player Sean Fritz wore a slightly different glove than his teammates. Sean's gloves were white with gray and scarlet trim while his teammates' gloves were gray with scarlet and white trim.

Per Rule 1, Section 21 of the NCAA rulebook: "All players on a team shall wear gloves of the same dominant official team color unless safety reasons require a different color glove to be worn."

That said, the Buckeyes were called for illegal procedure and the Terrapins were awarded possession.