As some of you may have seen recently, I was in the market for a bucket dad catcher's mitt as DD has been picking up a few MPH and my 34 year old OF glove was breaking laces weekly. Combined with the nonexistent padding, it was time.
So I have probably average "man sized" hands. Not huge by any stretch, but bigger than probably almost any woman. I am also a lefty, so I needed a LHT model. Being a lefty means often that selection is poor in anything but you can sometimes score a deal. I wound up picking up a Mizuno Samurai Model 31 mitt at a super price after doing some research. I could not find much on it specifically but found that lots of Mizunos were popular bucket dad mitts and I took a non-returnable chance that as a 34.5", it would fit. Unfortunately, there was no chance I could possibly even get it on my hand. After a week or two, I asked Mrs. Swim Coach if I could get a different mitt (Note: Mizuno is for sale, PM me!)
This time I went for another good deal on a Worth Liberty only this one came with free shipping both ways and can be returned for 100 days even used for a full refund. Again, in this case the LHT was $40 less than the RHT! The Worth is 34" and it came in today. I was hopeful because on this site and others, some other bucket dads have said that the Liberty was big enough for a man. Well it came today AND....it seems to be a keeper. It's certainly not too big, but it's going to work. And it is stiff! I've never used a catcher's mitt, I had a 1B mitt as a kid, but I certainly don't remember breaking in my 1974 Wilson "Outsider"
So I think the Liberty will work out. I know it should form/stretch a little to my hand, and I think at some point it will be just about perfect. It does not have as heavy a layer of palm padding as the Mizuno, but despite the fact that it is very stiff, the pocket was like there was softball velcro in there. It just gobbled up the ball.
I throw this out there because there wasn't enough info for me to make the right purchase from the searches I ran here and I might help someone else out in the future. I'll report back as things develop. Now if I can sell the Mizuno and make Mrs. SC happy all will be well.
So I have probably average "man sized" hands. Not huge by any stretch, but bigger than probably almost any woman. I am also a lefty, so I needed a LHT model. Being a lefty means often that selection is poor in anything but you can sometimes score a deal. I wound up picking up a Mizuno Samurai Model 31 mitt at a super price after doing some research. I could not find much on it specifically but found that lots of Mizunos were popular bucket dad mitts and I took a non-returnable chance that as a 34.5", it would fit. Unfortunately, there was no chance I could possibly even get it on my hand. After a week or two, I asked Mrs. Swim Coach if I could get a different mitt (Note: Mizuno is for sale, PM me!)
This time I went for another good deal on a Worth Liberty only this one came with free shipping both ways and can be returned for 100 days even used for a full refund. Again, in this case the LHT was $40 less than the RHT! The Worth is 34" and it came in today. I was hopeful because on this site and others, some other bucket dads have said that the Liberty was big enough for a man. Well it came today AND....it seems to be a keeper. It's certainly not too big, but it's going to work. And it is stiff! I've never used a catcher's mitt, I had a 1B mitt as a kid, but I certainly don't remember breaking in my 1974 Wilson "Outsider"
So I think the Liberty will work out. I know it should form/stretch a little to my hand, and I think at some point it will be just about perfect. It does not have as heavy a layer of palm padding as the Mizuno, but despite the fact that it is very stiff, the pocket was like there was softball velcro in there. It just gobbled up the ball.
I throw this out there because there wasn't enough info for me to make the right purchase from the searches I ran here and I might help someone else out in the future. I'll report back as things develop. Now if I can sell the Mizuno and make Mrs. SC happy all will be well.
