Breaking in a baseball glove properly
Jan 06 '03
The Bottom Line Using the proper break in method, you will have a vacuum of a baseball glove, and a break-in your teamates will be drooling over.
I have been playing baseball all my life, and have tried numerous amounts of ways to break in a baseball glove. First off, using a tremendous amount of oil is not reccomended. If you use oil, use a small amount in the pocket, the hinge, and the lower part of the webbing. Next, people have been talking about the water treatment, and most of them disagree with it. The reason they disagree with this treatment is because they do not do it right. I've tried the playing catch to break it in using Franklin's "Dr. Glove" (which I highly reccomend), and this method does work but it seems to take forever. I don't know about you, but when i get a baseball glove I want to use it as soon as possible, keeping in mind that I want to break it in properly. OK-I'll stop babbling and get to my point. I use the water method, and I use a strict regimen that must be followed to ensure a awesome result.
1. Fill up your sink or a bucket & completely submerge glove in room temperature water for approximately 3-5 minutes. (The reason people don't get great results from using the water method is that they leave the precious glove in the water overnight of for hours on in. This oversaturates the glove and causes the glove to become overweighted)
2. Put a baseball or softball deep in the pocket and try to stretch the glove around the baseball forming a pocket.
3. Tie up glove tightly, forming the pocket around the ball using a belt or string fingers facing up, to help the water drain.
4. Keep tied up and let glove dry naturally out in the sun or in the attic about 2-3 days or in any warm part of the house. (I usually hang it from my shower rod and remove it when anyone showers) IMPORTANT- do not bake the glove, or microwave it!!!
5. Untie and throw in the clothes dryer (even is still wet) on hot for 15-20 minutes. This will help "beat up the leather"
6. Remove from dryer and start working it in. The more time you spend bending down on the fingers and forming the pocket the better the end result. Once completely broken in I prefer and occasional "Dr. Glove" treatment or some shaving cream non-fragerance with lanolin when the glove gets a little dry.
PROOF IT WORKS- My game glove was purchased in my junior year of high school and this water method was applied. My high school coach came across it sometime ago and the results were unbeatable. My backup glove is only 2 years old purchased my freshman year of college. I used the ol' play catch method, and honestly I hate it. It takes way to long and the end result was not that good.
If you want the best possible results to break in your high quality baseball glove that you spent oodles of money on I highly reccomend this method
To keep the pocket formed ALWAYS keep a baseball or softball in your glove.
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winiemko22
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