Breaking in a New Glove - Right and Wrong Ways

[Greenmonsters]

There's a recent thread about buying a catcher a new mitt and in it a number of people have posted a variety of different, preferred methods for breaking in gloves, including steaming, microwaving, wrapping it up and putting it under the mattress etc.

IMO these quick break in methods are only appropriate if a) you haven't invested more than $100 in the glove; b) you want/need the glove to be broken in and ready for play immediately; and c) you don't care if you have to buy a new glove after only a season or two (guess why some manufacturers provide steamers!)

However, once you buy a big ticket, top-quality leather glove, IMO there's only one way to break it in properly. Put it on your OWN hand and use it. Take no short cuts and do it the hard way, take good care of it and a good glove will literally last a lifetime.

Provided below is a copy of a very timely Tip of the Month that was written by Jay Weaver for the Jan 2013 NECC newsletter.

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"Take care of your glove and it will take care of you."

I was having a discussion with the parent of one of my younger students during last-year's Summer Camp and the young catcher interrupted our conversation, by presenting me with his glove, saying that "I can't get my glove broken in." The dad laughed and grabbed the glove out of his son's hands and what occurred next is something that I still have nightmares about to this day. - ALERT: may be disturbing to some catchers! - He held the glove in both of his hands and proceeded to turn the glove inside out over and over again. I had to fight back the tears, as this poor young glove was being tortured right in front of my eyes.

The dad looked at my face and immediately saw my discontent with the situation and asked, "what's wrong?". I kindly explained that he has just committed the glove-care equivalent to capital murder. He then asked, "well what else should I do to get this thing broken in before the weekend?".

This question exemplifies the biggest misconception in glove-care. There is no quick fix. You cannot buy a quality mitt on Monday and use it in a game on Saturday morning. You just can't. A glove needs to be treated like a baby. It needs a lot of attention early on. A little "ointment" here and there is often necessary. You want to give it as much room as it needs to breath and develop and you need to give it a lot of love.

Over the years I've heard of every possible way to break in a glove and can tell you that there is really only one way to do it right. A little bit of glove oil, gently rubbed over the inside and edges of the glove, and then use it as often as you can in practice or pound a ball into the pocket of the glove while watching TV until it is ready for game use. Don't tie a string around the glove, don't place it underneath your mattress and sleep on it, don't sit on it or turn it inside out, don't steam it and down whatever you do - don't even think about placing your glove in an oven or microwave! EVER!

You want to break your glove in and have it ready to use in games for years to come? USE IT! When your not using it you should keep two baseballs (or in the girl's case, keep one softball) in the glove at all times the glove is not being used. The glove should not close on it's own while resting in the palm of your hand. You should keep it in a bag separate from your gear bag. Even if your gear bag has a compartment for it, don't use it! Dirt will get into your bag and will make it's way to that compartment and over time it will dry the glove out considerably. If your glove starts to dry out, wipe it with a barely damp cloth and re-apply a small amount of glove oil.

Good gloves aren't cheap, so if you want it to last long and maintain it's proper functionality you need to take glove care seriously. People who've come to our camps know just how serious I am about glove maintenance. For future reference warning: If you want to use your hand again, don't try to put your hand in another catcher's glove, ;-).
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PS: You can look, but don't even think about trying on Jay's Vinci FP catcher's mitt!

 

[Perfect Circle]

There's a recent thread about buying a catcher a new mitt and in it a number of people have posted a variety of different, preferred methods for breaking in gloves, including steaming, microwaving, wrapping it up and putting it under the mattress etc.

Thanks for this timely info...Another way I have heard of is to bury it in the ground thru the winter...to late already for this season...

I really think that the reasons that most girls don't learn to catch in the first year is because their glove isn't broke in, and it is too big!

 

[quincy]

DD got her 1st real glove before Xmas and she has not gotten the reps she needs to with it.

She wanted to bail on it just playing catch which I would not allow her to do.

She has only had 1 fielding practice and I asked the coach and her how she did. Coach said she did great and was impressed, DD said she had to run around the ball because she had no confidence that she could catch the ball.

I do think taking the slow method it is going to be an extension of her hand later in the year.

 

[blazer60]

Great post. I don't think people understand how important it is to take good care of your glove. Breaking it in incorrectly can result in a 'pancake' and can lead to errors. Old college coach actually told us to never keep our gloves in our bat bags. We had to carry it with us EVERYWHERE we went.... even on the bus/plane. A little overboard but you get the point...

 

[JAD]

I have broken in several gloves for players on my DD team over the years. Catching pitches on a bucket is a great way to accelerate the break-in period. Now that my DD is older, and throwing a little faster, it is getting harder and harder to break in fielders gloves catching pitches!

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Also, I wear a microfiber sponge in mine, to keep the dirt from collecting inside. I have 2 athletes doing the same thing, now.

 

[tsryan71]

Daughter has 4 gloves and were broken in as follows:
Glove 1 - 12" Mizuno MVP fielding glove $65 at the time - baked twice. That was 4 years ago and the glove is going strong! Uses it at every team practice.

Glove 2 - 34" Akadema catchers mitt $80 at the time - used the traditional glove oil and ball thrown into the pocket method - two unfortunate things happened, one, the glove formed to my hand which was considerably larger than hers and, two, the glove became very heavy with the oil. She no longer uses this mitt.

Glove 3 - 33" Valkarie catchers mitt $100 - arrived "steamed", used the dirt from a neighboring baseball diamond to rub the "slippery-ness" off and alternated with rubbing in utter cream and barbasol shaving cream with lanolin. Did not put my entire hand in (learned my lesson), only three fingers and worked the ball into the pocket. Daughter loves this mitt and it has/is serving her well!

Glove 4 - (recently splitting time at 1B) Rawlings Revo 1B mitt $130 - was pretty much broken in right out of the bag. Have only been playing catch with it (3 months sporadically used). Still needs time to be completely comfortable with it. Maybe if she used it full time it would be ready to go by now.

To sum up, the "traditional" way of breaking in a glove has produced the worst result for my daughter.

 

[jinjet95]

My DD infield glove is a Glovesmith that she had custom made. We're fortunate enough to live relatively close to the original location, so she was able to pick out the exact pieces of leather used to make her glove. The man who made it cautioned us about over oiling the glove. He said at the end of the season to wipe the dirt off with a clean cloth and to very lightly oil the scuffed areas only. It only gets the all over - very light oiling - when new and then when looking dry. It was broken in by using it - nothing else. It took almost a whole season of playing catch and practices before it was game ready, but she loves it. It sounds as if you were oiling the Akadema repeatedly? That might be why it got heavy. This is DD 2nd season with the glove (she's a sophomore) and she expects to use it through college.

 

[kenb63]

DD broke her Glovesmith 1b mitt (in avatar) in with lots of catch and malleting plus a good steaming at the local sporting goods store. Still took several months before she felt ready to use it in a game but it is now pretty awesome. She's already beginning to miss it as this will be her final summer of TB before playing in college with their LS sponsorship.

I am reminded of the kid down the street who came home from his first BB practice in grade school and told his mom that "Coach said I should boil my glove..."

 

[T.J.]

I think some folks over-oil their new gloves for the quick fix. I think if you are a little conservative or just use an appropriate amount of oil on the new glove to break it in, then use the glove as you normally would, and always store it with a ball inside of it, you will be satisfied with the results. Then as time goes on all you need to do is maintain teh glove by applying a thin coat of oil once or twice a year or as you feel fit. You don't need to bake it or drive over it with your car; for crimminy sakes it's a glove!.