Design your perfect glove?

[ANNASDAD]

I sent Johanna @ All-Star a PM last night "suggesting" a certain market killer glove that would / could possibly put a dent in Rawlings & Wilsons sales, probably not, but hey?? Just for discussion (this is DFP) I thought I'd ask......design your perfect glove, the perfect pattern, a glove that you think is missing and girls would benefit from, a utility pattern, a design change, (better lace haha ), infield, outfield, catchers and 1B mitts, a better pitchers glove, certain leathers, better internals, anything, let's hear it!

I think I'm having a RADcatcher moment, of course I'm nowhere near as interesting as her! And before anyone describes their perfect glove as a free one, please don't!

This is day one back from Covid, got my get out of jail free card this morning, thought I'd make a glove post!

 

[Schmick's Gloves]

For softball....

I'd design a 12" I web glove that would be a cross between some of the Pro Preferred, Heart of the Hide, A2000, A2Ks in my collection.

It would have an I web, I like the I webs the most, they look the coolest and you can track the ball through them

It would be a wing tip, wing tip is not just a beautiful look to the glove but it also provides a finger pad for both traditional and 2 in the pink wear

It would be Superskin, the synthetic super skin is more durable for the back sides of gloves, it holds color better and it makes the glove more lightweight without sacrificing durability

It would have 1/4" laces in the web, all the softball gloves I get come with 3/16" lace throughout the glove, and the 3/16" lace is normally skived down to the thickness that is normally just for the palm of the glove throughout the glove.

Poron would not be allowed near the glove. And the honeycombed rubber sting pad Wilson puts (only in fastpitch gloves) would not be allowed near the glove either.

The felt would be felt, or wool, not the gray carpet padding stuffed in the fingers and padding in many gloves.

I may even consider the thicker leather tips that Rawlings puts on its mesh gloves but keep the superskin up to the tips

It would have the newer Wilson wrist closures with the 3 holes on the glove side and 2 holes on the strap side as they are adjustable and better than those lame velcro wrist closures.


I'm sure there are a lot more but those are the ones off the top of my head

 

[radness]

Built with this in mind

Once the glove is on
And pulled tight
The best way (or a better way)
* to keep it tight!

(that seems to be the most common short comming i notice)

 

[ANNASDAD]

Built with this in mind

Once the glove is on
And pulled tight
The best way (or a better way)
* to keep it tight!

(that seems to be the most common short comming i notice)

Hey RAD, the problem here is, most girls who have a glove with a Velcro wrist closure, this is just a terribly bad habit! They can’t keep their hands off the Velcro strap! And most don’t even know how to use that strap! Have you ever seen an At Bat with Nomar Garciparra and the way he destroys the Velcro on his batting gloves between every pitch? Annoying to say the least!

Remove ALL Velcro from ball gloves and start making high quality softball specific gloves with hand and finger stalls that work for and fit a female hand! And lace the wrist lap button accordingly, and give it 3 different sizes for a custom fit.

Velcro on ball gloves is just stupid!

 

[radness]

Hey RAD, the problem here is, most girls who have a glove with a Velcro wrist closure, this is just a terribly bad habit! They can’t keep their hands off the Velcro strap! And most don’t even know how to use that strap! Have you ever seen an At Bat with Nomar Garciparra and the way he destroys the Velcro on his batting gloves between every pitch? Annoying to say the least!

Remove ALL Velcro from ball gloves and start making high quality softball specific gloves with hand and finger stalls that work for and fit a female hand! And lace the wrist lap button accordingly, and give it 3 different sizes for a custom fit.

Velcro on ball gloves is just stupid!

That
Also the Velcro part would have to be pulled over so far there was hardly any velcro to smash together. Leaves a giant piece of unattteched proinking out.
( proinking~ that may have come from
Mad Magazine )

And the leather style
Pull this way to tighten.
Pull that way to loosen.
This seems the worst offender of loosening often.

BTW i'm reffering to catchers mitts/gloves.

 

[ANNASDAD]

BTW i'm reffering to catchers mitts/gloves.

I’m sure you are. The thing with Velcro, girls pull it as tight as they can with the glove open, so basically this locks the glove in the open position, and it pulls against the girl when she tries to squeeze it closed. To properly pull and attach a Velcro strap, you do it with the glove already squeezed closed so it doesn’t pull against itself!

Do away with Velcro wrist closures and this problem goes away!

 

[ANNASDAD]

Probably should have asked RAD to start this thread for me.......

Okay, here’s the glove that‘s missing!

A true 3B / utility pattern in a full (true size) 12” or even a 12.25”. This glove done right could fill the role of the girl who plays 2 or 3 positions. Absolutely NO Velcro, build this glove from the ground up in the right pattern for multiple softball positions but build it with small / snug hand and finger stalls specifically for the female hand! Not every girl likes a micro small glove, this size would work great at SS and 2B also.

The Vinci BV1929 is one pattern that I think is close to the glove I’m describing, but I’m thinking of a glove that’s much higher in quality, and definitely without a basket web!!

**Full size 12” or 12.25” glove.

**H-web, it’s absolutely the best web for a 3B & utility glove, H-webs break in deep and wide and it’s a strong web!

**A great leather, a real leather, I know the word Horween scares a lot of people off, but I’m talking about a real, big girl glove! Yeah it’s stiff, but it’s also durable and stands up to the rigors of TB, school ball, practices and lessons. If not Horween, a high quality Steerhide leather.

**Take the softball / fastpitch glove out of the equation, build it with true high quality baseball internals.....true felt, thicker finger stays, a leather palm pad, NO synthetic palm pads! Source some really high quality lace and use rough split welting. A glove built for the girl who uses a glove 5 days a week!

**I love the Rawlings Pro1000 / Pro206 / Pro207 / KB17 pattern with it’s bowl shape, along with the Wilson DW5 / 1781 pattern, deep and bowl shaped, great 3B patterns! But these are all baseball models I’ve listed above, make a glove in the patterns I listed above but make it fit a girls hand!

**My newest custom NP6 is another pattern that’s perfect for softball 3B, this one came with a surprisingly small hand stall that a lot of girls would use right out of the box! This one is a
I-web glove which would also work great, I still think a H-web glove is a better option for the glove I’m describing, but this I-web will work, and it’s so cool looking! I’ve went my entire life without ever owning a I-web glove, now I have 3 of them!

 

[Schmick's Gloves]

If I'm looking at gloves already in my stable, these 2 make fine gloves for my kid to game. She has a stack of gloves on the shelf in her room already though and these 2 are on a shelf in the Glove Lab
With the Wilson Gloves, the Pedroia Fit gloves give you smaller wrist openings and hand wells,

 

[ANNASDAD]

Here’s my older custom 12” NP6, you’ve all seen it posted here before. This is basically the glove I was describing to @JohannaClair at All-Star. Have them make a 12” / 12.25” version of this glove, but make it with all their System Seven baseball glove goodies! Use their Maruhashi leather inside and out, and again, market it for fastpitch and make it for a female hand!

There isn’t a retail version of the NP6, it’s a custom model only, if Rawlings offered this model in a retail version, or targeted the fastpitch crowd, I think this glove would go over very well. The hand stall isn’t that big, but it could be a little snugger. But the overall size is perfect, it’s a big, very full size 12” glove, considerably larger than the 12” Pro1000 / Pro206 pattern.

EVERY girl who’s ever tried this glove on, seriously 30 or 40 girls, from HS ball, Anna’s last year of 18U TB, and a few of the girls just recently on this Fall Ball team, they all instantly loved this glove when they tried it on!

In a game situation where I had to shuffle a few girls around in an inning, I’d feel perfectly fine moving a girl from 3B to RF, or 1B with this glove, and vice versa. It’s a great utility size!

 

[ANNASDAD]

Here’s an I-web version of a 12” NP6, this one has a Jtan liner to exactly match the rest of the shell leather, this glove has a very snug hand stall. I’d say the majority of girls 14U and up could hit the ground running with this glove straight out of the box, after break in of course!