Baseball glove care

The last quick baseball glove repair I did recently was just another case of glove negligence…probably from the beginning. Just a little care of the baseball glove right after it was purchased and a little more during the playing season would have prevented the tears he was now repairing.

Of course, the breaks happened during the new high school season, so the glove downtime was a bad thing. And as he sat there repairing this glove, it was clear that he never cared at all, probably never. When I got the glove, the leather was stiff, the laces were hard and brittle in places, and the glove wasn’t far from falling apart. The sad thing is that it wasn’t that old of a baseball glove and it was a pretty expensive name brand glove.

So here are some baseball glove care tips to keep in mind for your new glove and your old glove so you can keep your glove looking and feeling great. But most importantly, it will prevent those pesky rips and tears that cause you to lose your favorite glove over multiple games while repairs are being made.

new glove

New gloves are usually very dry and stiff. Left untreated after being at the mercy of water, dirt, mud, sun, and heat for the season, the leather will begin to break down. This will show up as early glove wear…broken laces and ripped leather long before this normally happens.

• One of the most important things to do for your baseball glove is to condition it when it is new. This softens everything…leather and laces. It also protects the leather against water, sun, heat and any other unpleasant environmental elements. It is convenient if the new glove is purchased out of season so that the glove settles after applying the conditioner and can be better absorbed.
• Probably the most important thing is No use oils on your baseball glove. Use conditioners based on pastes and/or lanolin. Oils, like oxfoot oil, make your glove heavy and wet, but worse, oils can clog the pores of the leather and this will eventually weaken the leather and cause it to basically disintegrate. You can see this on old gloves that were treated with oils and are falling apart.

before the season

• Inspect glove laces and tighten really loose laces and repair or replace broken laces. This probably should have been done after the last season ended.
• If nothing has been done to the baseball glove after the last season, clean it and rub it in with a little conditioner.
• If the glove has been cleaned and conditioned after the last season, perhaps a light coat of conditioner could be applied if the glove seems a bit dry.

during the season

• When the glove gets wet and dirty, wipe off the mud and let the glove dry on its own…don’t use ovens and don’t leave it in the sun to dry. Let it dry on the inside on its own. If you notice that the leather feels a little dry from a series of wet/dry cycles, simply apply a light coat of conditioner at some point when you see this happening to your baseball glove.
• Extended dry spells where the glove experiences really hot, dry weather may require a light coat of conditioner on occasion. Wipe off dirt and dust and apply conditioner.
• Keep the laces tight, just like when you originally bought the glove.
• Repair broken laces. This shouldn’t happen as often if you’ve kept the glove clean and conditioned. However, you should fix broken shoelaces as soon as you can. It’s a good idea to learn, or try to do it yourself, both from a cost standpoint and so you don’t have to lose your glove for a few days or a week.

after the season

• Wipe as much dirt, dust, and dried mud off the baseball glove as you can.
• Tighten loose laces.
• Fix broken laces or replace laces that you know may break next season.
• Store the baseball glove in a place that is not exposed to direct sunlight and not exposed to heat sources. You don’t want to dry out the glove during the off-season.

Results

By applying the baseball glove care tips above, you can keep your glove looking and feeling great. The leather will keep its color and softness. If you keep the laces tight and strong, the baseball glove will keep the shape it took when you broke it to fit your hand when the glove was new. and you can prevent unplanned lace breaks that lead to downtime and the temporary loss of your favorite glove.

Most importantly, the baseball glove lasts…and saves you from having to go through the hassle of buying a new (and expensive!) glove and then going through the fitting process all over again. And it’s just one of those things… the longer you play and have your favorite glove, the better you get with it.

Care of baseball gloves. Just do it!