Baseball Glove Sizing And Glove Lacing And Maintenance

Baseball Glove Sizing And Glove Lacing And Maintenance

Learn about baseball glove sizing so that you reduce errors and get the best field catching performance. Get up to date techniques on baseball glove lacing, glove break in and maintenance steps along with related articles on a wide range of baseball gear.

Find, Compare, and Buy Baseball Gloves - View All Baseball Links

Buyers Guide To Baseball Glove Sizing

‘One size fits all' concepts of baseball glove sizing dominated the early days of baseball when pitchers like Cy Young or field position players like the great Ty Cobb all used more or less the same size baseball glove. Players either got a good fit, a too tight fit, or a too loose fit by way of random good luck. Fortunately, the game expanded in popularity, Presidents got into the act of throwing in the first ball to open the season, and baseball equipment designers and manufacturers rapidly harnessed the latest materials technologies in order to produce high performance and increasingly custom baseball gloves.

The Range Of Baseball Glove Sizes. In the youth segments, including Little League, Babe Ruth and Pony League players, baseball glove sizing begins with simple hand size delineations including small, medium and youth large sizes prior to advancing into the adult size gloves. Small baseball glove sizing associates with a driving or sports glove size of approximately 6 ¾. On the other side of glove sizing, where your hand size is measured at approximately 12 inches (around the palm just behind the knuckles), your baseball glove size will be XL or XXL.

Field Positions Determine Baseball Glove Sizing. Players and coaches and fans now realize that getting improved and reliable on field performance means having the right baseball gear. Infielders especially short stop and second base need a short fingered glove with a somewhat shallow pocket due to the catch-and-throw action required for the many sorts of ground balls they face. Meanwhile, third basemen need a baseball glove size with slightly longer fingers due to the greater speed of ball hit their way. Outfielders want a long fingered deep pocket baseball glove in order to catch the long fly balls or unevenly bouncing ground balls hit to the outfield. Catchers mitts are yet another class of baseball glove sizing issue, where deep padding conflicts with the need for flexibility when trying to corral hard breaking curve balls or trapping a Hoyt Wilhelm like knuckleball from its wobbling flight towards home base.

Baseball Glove Lacing. All the performance oriented market brands such as an Akadema baseball glove will be designed and constructed with an unique glove lacing system. When you're breaking in your baseball glove or undertaking regular maintenance, you want to basically inspect every tie as well as every connecting lace in order to ensure that the leather or synthetic lacing remains in tip top condition. If you see any signs of fraying or wear, then immediately replace that lace with fresh new lacing as recommended by the glove manufacturer.

How Does Padding And Inserts Affect Baseball Glove Sizing? Pre-season training, whether indoors and outdoors, delivers its share of hand injuries and bone bruising as overly-enthusiastic and perhaps overly aggressive players burst onto a new baseball or softball season. Hands remain winter soft, tender and far from ruggedly calloused as occurs later in the summer. In order to avoid hand injuries and yet get the right baseball glove size, you need to allow for a thin high compression insert material to be placed within the palm and potentially within the glove finger well. Again, the fit should be firm, but not tight, until your hand builds up some protective callous material. To accommodate this important pre-season playing experience, your baseball glove size will have to be slightly ‘roomy' without becoming ‘sloppy'. Try many glove styles on. Check to see that you have perhaps a solid Velcro wrist closure which will aid in keeping your glove on your hand.

Copyright 2004-2010 S&T US LLC