“What is a hermit?”/“A girl’s baseball glove.”

A children’s pun about baseball equipment is:
 
Q: What is a hermit?
A: A girl’s baseball glove.
 
The “hermit/her mitt” joke has been cited in print since at least 1979. The joke was mentioned in William Safire‘s “On Language” column in the New York (NY) Times in 2002, along with other “sport redefinitions.”
 
     
Google Books
October 1979, Boys’ Life, “Think & Grin,” pg. 82, col. 3:
Daffynishion: Hermit — a girl’s baseball glove. — Norm Crawford, Morton Grove, III.
   
Google Books
March 1986, Boys’ Life, ‘Think & Grin,” pg. 88, col. 1:
Daffynition: Hermit— a girl’s baseball glove.— Tim Spellman, Cincinnati, Ohio.
 
Google Books
Squeaky Clean Jokes for Kids
By Bob Phillips and Steve Russo
Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers
1997
Pg. 132:
Dottie: What is a hermit?
Ignatius: You’ve got me.
Dottie: A girl’s baseball glove.
   
New York (NY) Times
ON LANGUAGE
Clean Yer Clock
By WILLIAM SAFIRE
Published: February 3, 2002
(...)
SPORTS REDEFINITIONS
superficial (n.), “a really good referee” (Mel Siedband).
beleaguered (adj.), “stuck in the semipros” (Eric Mencher).
contrapuntal (adj.), “foolishly advocating passing instead of kicking on fourth down” (Alfred Greenberg).
hermit (n.), “girl’s baseball glove” (Judith Werben)
 
Google Groups: alt.humor.puns
“Puns of the Weak” 08/23/02
Stan Kegel
8/23/02
(...)
Hermit: Girl’s baseball glove (William Safire)
 
Twitter
kendra k
‏@kendrak
what is a hermit? a girl’s baseball glove.
11:31 AM - 13 Dec 2007
 
The Amazingly Lame Joke of the Day
Sunday, August 21, 2011
What is a hermit?
A girl’s baseball glove.
Posted by Tim Wycislak at 1:55 AM
 
Twitter
Andrew Johnson
‏@SotaJohns
Maher’s Joke of the Day: Anybody know what a “Hermit” is? A girl’s baseball glove
9:04 AM - 6 Apr 2016