Eddie Vedder gave cherished baseball mitt to sports hero

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder had to give up his cherished childhood baseball glove when his sports hero asked if he could have it backstage at a 2013 summer gig.

The Sirens singer has revealed baseball icon Ernie Banks took a liking to the sportswear when he saw it in Pearl Jam's dressing room prior to their historic Wrigley Field gig in Chicago, Illinois in July (13) - and the rocker reluctantly let him take it home with him.

Vedder tells Billboard magazine, "He kept my glove. I've got pictures of me (with it) when I'm about six.

"I have Johnny Ramone's baseball glove (from) when he was a kid, so I had them (gloves) sitting next to each other in a little spot in the house. Then I brought (mine), just to bring it to Wrigley, I just wanted it to be there.

"Ernie saw it and then he put it on, and he said, 'I really like this glove... It's a good mitt. There's love in this glove. I really would like to have this glove. This would be a connection between you and me to have this mitt.'

"I said, 'Well Ernie, it's my first mitt as a kid'. His friend was looking at me going, 'Oh no, you're never going to see that again'. I said, 'You can absolutely have my mitt'."

And although he misses his glove, he doesn't regret giving it to Banks, adding, "If you go back and realize some day Ernie Banks might ask for your mitt, you f**king give it to him - Mr. Cub, the hero that you watched as a kid."

Vedder is living out his baseball dream at the moment - his band's music has been chosen as the soundtrack for the ongoing World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox.