"Forever" Glove?

Quick questions about when you bought it, what brand/model was it, and what size was your DD's "forever" glove? You know, that higher dollar / real-deal / last and use forever glove?

DD will be 11 this October, and we are moving up to the 12" ball right now following LL season and moving into travel ball. Trying out and practicing with a 12u team; so the 11" ball is history in our minds... She's had a pretty good Mizuno for the past 2 seasons, she takes great care of it, and it has been a great glove for her. It's just now starting to show signs of cheap-glove-itis in the cracking inside and on the crease, on top of being a tad too small for the 12" ball.

Right now she's learning to pitch and she typically plays infield. However with the older teams, she may be in the outfield...
Suggestions please:
Size: (she's average 10 year old height with average hand size)
Spend:
Suggested Models / Brands:


Thanks.

At that age, DD was pitching and playing the corners. We ended up purchasing a Nokona Buckeroo 12.5. The glove is heavy for a pitcher IMO but she was able to handle it easily since she's always been the tallest/biggest girl on the team.. Since she transitioned to catcher 4 years ago, she rarely uses it now and it's still in decent shape. That was before Vinci's came out. If I were to purchase another glove today, that would be the way I'd go. They don't seem to be as heavy as the Nokona's but I could be wrong. I'm basing this on other posters comments on here about them. I can tell you the Vinci JCV-34 is lighter than the equivalent Nokona Cather's mitt and built just as well if not better.

After much discussion and research and some good expert recommendations from the Vinci reps on this board, I went with a Vinci BV-1929L for my now 12u daughter. We picked it up 2 years ago and it is in amazing condition after 2 years of travel ball. Just as a comparison,my daughter is small for her age and the great finger wells on the Vinci really sold it for us as she liked the fit it much better than others we tried.

Drakemir said:

After much discussion and research and some good expert recommendations from the Vinci reps on this board, I went with a Vinci BV-1929L for my now 12u daughter. We picked it up 2 years ago and it is in amazing condition after 2 years of travel ball. Just as a comparison,my daughter is small for her age and the great finger wells on the Vinci really sold it for us as she liked the fit it much better than others we tried.

Click to expand...

Was late to the party and did not get my DD her BV1929-L until she was 16, just hope they will let her use it in college!

My dd had a glove at 11 that worked great, until it was accidentally lost.

At this age, I might buy a nice $100 or less glove and wait until she is a little older before you plunk down $300. Especially if you think its going to last forever. Otherwise you will be making some sort of compromise on fit. It will either be too big now, or too small later.

And even once she was bigger, at age 14 I bought her "forever glove" it is a mizuno. Can't remember the model but it cost me $100. I had it relaced once. She just played her 5th year with that glove and its in great shape.

Great; I'll add the Vinci to my searches... any luck or reviews on the Akadema (AJB74) or the Shoeless Jane (1200FPBWR)?

For pitching, middle infield, possible outfield; would you go 11.75" or 12" (or something different)?


Thanks again! Love this site!

My DD uses a 11.5 inch Nokona Banana Tan for infield/OF and it's a great glove. Great pocket that seems to eat the ball up. For catching she has a Nokona as well that is like a slab of concrete still. I had to pick her up a Mizuno until the Nokona gets game ready but I will say that both these gloves with regular oil will last her 10 years.

Most of my dedicated outfielders are using a 12.5" glove. The rest are using a 12" glove. Some coaches prefer a smaller glove (11.5" or 11.75") in the IF, especially MI since they believe the ball can sometimes get "lost" in a bigger glove. That said, my MIers sometimes play OF and have no issue with a 12" out there.

Shoeless Janes are game ready - come pretty soft out of the bag, but I have heard some complaints about floppiness as they age however they seem to be decent gloves. Most the other upper end gloves are going to require a significant break in time, but they are built to last.

When I first started playing softball when I was 11, I used a Easton mitt. A little into our practices, our regular catcher got injured. So I transitioned to catcher a week and a half into the season before we played a game...our first game being a few days after I became a catcher. I started out using my brother's backup Mizuno mitt. My dad and I were out shopping and I fell in love with the Vinci Forsus catcher's mitts. I would have bought mine that day...but it's a right handed catcher's mitt. The problem...I'm a lefty...so shopping for a catcher's mitt is a little more difficult. After a little searching on the internet...I found my "forever" mitt...a Vinci Forsus...in a left handed thrower...under $80...and able to be picked up in store. I also spent an additional $15 to get my glove game ready because I really didn't want to spend hours in practice trying to get this glove game ready and still have to use my brother's backup mitt...which i didn't like the idea of having my hand in his sweated up mitt. Eww!! I LOVE my Vinci Forsus. I'm buying another Vinci Forsus as a backup and I'll get another Vinci for in case I'm called on to pitch again.