Breaking in your glove the RIGHT way
Nowadays, you can find gloves with softer leathers that have a game-ready feel right off the shelf; however, most of your high performance models will require a break-in period. Over the years, we’ve heard plenty of stories about how people break in their gloves. Some tactics work, yet others are just simply harmful to your glove. As a result, I’ve created a list of “do’s” and “don’t s” that come in handy when it comes to caring for your glove.
DO WORK THE PADDING: you can loosen the fibers by twisting the heel of your glove back and forth. Do the same with the fingers and thumb of your glove. You’ll begin to feel it getting softer. This technique will also allow for a more comfortable fit.
DO PLAY CATCH: the best way to form a good pocket is to play catch. You can also pound your pocket with a mallet or your fist. Be sure to pound exactly where you want the pocket to be formed.
DO WRAP YOUR GLOVE: Place a Rawlings baseball in the pocket of your glove and fold it closed. Secure your glove with rubber bands and let it rest in a cool, dry place. This will allow for your glove to conform to the shape of a baseball more readily and easily. This technique will aid in forming a pocket.
DO CONDITION YOUR GLOVE: Give your glove a light coating of Rawlings Glovolium or lanoline-based shaving cream every 2-3 months. Simply pour onto a rag and wipe your glove to maintain the leather fibers. This will ensure that your glove stays soft while adding a layer of protection. Again, a light coating used moderately works best.
DO MAINTAIN YOUR GLOVE: Inspect your laces every so often to ensure they aren’t broken or stretched out. Tighten them as needed and replace with new laces if yours break.
DON’T USE A MICROWAVE OR OVEN: This is the worst thing you could do to your glove! It drys out the leather and damages the inner portion of the gloves. Heat can also make the laces brittle causing them to break.
DON’T RUN OVER WITH A CAR: Yes, there are people who do this. This is a sure-fire way to shorten the life of your glove. People do this to make their glove flatter, but there are better ways to achieve this result.
DON’T SUBMERGE IN WATER: This too will shorten the life of your glove. This will cause the glove to become heavy as well. If you insist on using water to help soften your leather, pour a small amount of hot water onto the pocket and let it run right out, pound it a bit, then treat with either a small amount of Rawlings Glovolium or lanolin-based shaving cream. Be sure that it’s completely dry before playing with it.
I would love to hear how you break in your glove. What works? What doesn’t? We’d love to hear your feedback.
Denny Whiteside
Rawlings Glove Engineer
DO WORK THE PADDING: you can loosen the fibers by twisting the heel of your glove back and forth. Do the same with the fingers and thumb of your glove. You’ll begin to feel it getting softer. This technique will also allow for a more comfortable fit.
DO PLAY CATCH: the best way to form a good pocket is to play catch. You can also pound your pocket with a mallet or your fist. Be sure to pound exactly where you want the pocket to be formed.
DO WRAP YOUR GLOVE: Place a Rawlings baseball in the pocket of your glove and fold it closed. Secure your glove with rubber bands and let it rest in a cool, dry place. This will allow for your glove to conform to the shape of a baseball more readily and easily. This technique will aid in forming a pocket.
DO CONDITION YOUR GLOVE: Give your glove a light coating of Rawlings Glovolium or lanoline-based shaving cream every 2-3 months. Simply pour onto a rag and wipe your glove to maintain the leather fibers. This will ensure that your glove stays soft while adding a layer of protection. Again, a light coating used moderately works best.
DO MAINTAIN YOUR GLOVE: Inspect your laces every so often to ensure they aren’t broken or stretched out. Tighten them as needed and replace with new laces if yours break.
DON’T USE A MICROWAVE OR OVEN: This is the worst thing you could do to your glove! It drys out the leather and damages the inner portion of the gloves. Heat can also make the laces brittle causing them to break.
DON’T RUN OVER WITH A CAR: Yes, there are people who do this. This is a sure-fire way to shorten the life of your glove. People do this to make their glove flatter, but there are better ways to achieve this result.
DON’T SUBMERGE IN WATER: This too will shorten the life of your glove. This will cause the glove to become heavy as well. If you insist on using water to help soften your leather, pour a small amount of hot water onto the pocket and let it run right out, pound it a bit, then treat with either a small amount of Rawlings Glovolium or lanolin-based shaving cream. Be sure that it’s completely dry before playing with it.
I would love to hear how you break in your glove. What works? What doesn’t? We’d love to hear your feedback.
Denny Whiteside
Rawlings Glove Engineer
posted by Rawlings at 9/20/2006 02:39:00 PM
10 Comments:
To break in an expensive leather ball glove from Rawlings, I prefer to use 100% pure Lanolin. Lanolin is a natural waterproofing and moisturizing grease that comes from the sebaceous glands of sheep, but it lets the leather fibers breathe. You can buy a small tube of Lansinoh brand lanolin for about $10 at any drugstore (for breastfeeding mothers) and one small tube will provide up to 10 treatments. This product is only 100% medical grade, hypoallergenic lanolin and has no additives like silicon, alcohol, glycerin or mineral oil all of which are detrimental to ball glove leather...that's why you should NOT use shaving cream. It's also MUCH lighter in weight than glove oil. The lanolin is a thick gel-like substance and you sparingly rub it in the entire glove with your fingers, including the leather lining and ALL laces. It will feel greasy and tacky at first, but don't worry. Put the treated glove inside an old cotton pillow case and tie it closed with a knot. Put the pillow case with the glove in it into your dryer on the NO HEAT setting and let it tumble for an hour to soften the leather. The pillow case absorbs the extra lanolin and prevents the lanolin from getting on your dryer drum. Remove the glove from the pillow case and buff it down completely with a soft cotton towel to remove all excess lanolin. Then put one or two baseballs in the pocket and roll the glove up by folding the thumb over the balls, then the fingers over the thumb. Tie it tightly closed with a belt or rubber bands and leave it for 48 hours. Untie the glove and it's ready to play catch with. Keep it tied up after each round of catch but alternate between (1) folding the thumb in first with the fingers folded over the thumb and then (2) the fingers in first with the thumb folded over the fingers. This helps soften the heel and hinge so you can get the glove to close and react any way you want it to. The lanolin helps the leather fibers stretch without tearing or weakening them. After a week or two, repeat the lanolin and tumbling process and you'll have a glove that will be soft and healthy and long lasting. You will love your glove and your glove will love you! Always tie the glove closed around a baseball after playing catch, but you just fold the thumb edge to the pinky finger edge, no more need to fold the fingers over the thumb or vice versa after the second treatment. NEVER store the glove folded flat...that ruins the hinge. Repeat the lanolin process about every other month to keep the leather supple and strong for long life.
What I do to break in a glove wether it's an infield, first base, outfield or catcher's mitt is that I apply some Glovolium all over the inside of the glove and then place a ball in the mitt, put it under my pillow and sleep with it under my pillow for about 2/3 days. Then if not soft enough I put 3 baseballs in it, one in the center of the pocket, the second in the palm, and the third on top of the first one to make the top of the web soft enough to be able to make snow-cone catches without releasing the ball, and tie up the whole with a belt for about 2/3 days.
honestly, the only way to break in an infielders glove is to play catch and bend the pink finger, and thumb out. this helps with backhands and forehands.
you guys should consider making a glove webbing like Alex Rodriguez` web. like the T-web or the cross T-web. that looks like a plus sign + + + + + +.
thanks i`d really appreciate it.
I break in my glove with hair conditioner for blonde hairs!
and now my fits my hand so good, and play so much better!
I recomend!
How I break in my glove is good glove conditioner and PLAYING CATCH. Also DO NOT break in your glove with the pinky and thumb touching it is EVERy uncofortable. If you buy a pro preferred use oil or else the the leather on the inside of the glove will crack and fell wierd when you put it on.
I use a pro preferred gold glove (3rd finger/trap-ez) outfield model. I love it. A lot of the breaking in was done at the factory before I bought it, but I wanted it broken in a little more. Since then, I've done all of the Do's listed above. I've used the Rowlings glove conditioner which has Lanolin and works great especially for around $2. In addition, I've recently started playing catch with a weighted ball that also seems to help a lot.
I have the 50th anniversary Pro Preferred 34" catchers glove. I put a few balls in it then wrap it with rubber bands and put it under my bed. I use Rawlings glove oil every once and a while to make it look good. Other than that I just play catch with it. I am in 8th grade on my school's freshman team. Everyone likes the look of my glove. I also had my name put on it with silver lettering and it looks sweet.
Here is how I break in my gloves.... when I first purchase the glove, I adjust the pinky/thumb loops and usually relace the glove so that it is to my liking. I like to spread the fingers out, and loosen the web. Spreading the fingers out basically makes the fielding area of my glove bigger. The same for the pocket/web. Most gloves come pretty tightly laced, but spreading everything out makes my gloves much easier to break in as it is loosened.
I don't like to put anything like oil or conditioner on my glove until after it's first season of use. I used to spit in my gloves, but have found that in the long-run it is a bad idea as the spit areas usually crack and are sort of "digested" over a few seasons.
I pound the pocket with my fist and a mallet (Nokona makes the one I have). Sometimes I will grab a bucket and have a seat in front of a pitching machine and catch a few hundred balls. It works.
Fold the glove at the hinges and work it. Grab the heel, holding your glove upside down, and shake it. This will loosen up the crease after a while.
In my opinion, nothing is better for your glove than playing catch and giving it a little TLC. There are no shortcuts to a great break.
What i do to break in my gloves is i cover it with saddle soap. It's an inexpensive product that works great. Then after i've oiled it with the saddle soap i throw a baseball in it for a few minutes, then i tie it up with a string and put it under my matress for a night then i take it out and sit on it for awhile. After i sit on it i go out and play catch with it for awhile. After im done playing catch i tie it back up with the ball in it, and sleep on it for a few more nights.Really the only thing that can really help break it in to your prefrence is just to play catch with it as much as u can. peferably with a person who throws hard.That will break it in faster.
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