In the early days of baseball, the game was played without baseball gloves. One of the first players that used a glove was Doug Allison (catcher for the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1870) due to an injured left hand. The first confirmed glove was used by Charlie Waitt in 1875. Using gloves slowly caught on as more began to play with them.
Many gloves were leather gloves with the finger tips cut off, supposedly to have the same control as barehanded but with extra protection. Albert Spalding influenced players to use gloves. He manufactured a sporting goods company called Spalding, which still manufactures sporting goods. By the mid-1890s it was common to play with an glove.
A pitcher called Bill Doak suggested to place a web between the finger and thumb to create a pocket, in 1920. He sold this design to Rawlings and became the precursor to modern gloves and enabled Rawlings to become the preferred glove of professionals.
The quality and structure developed greatly over the years. The production became more precise and efficient. Easton is also innovating with the materials of gloves. They are experimenting with combining leather and kevlar to make a light-weight glove.
For baseball players, there are many different sizes. T-ball size is 8.5 inch – 10 inch. This is for all positions and kids from 3 to 6 years old. For youth there are a couple different sizes. Infield is 10.25 inch – 11.5 inch, 1st base is 11.5 inch – 12 inch and outfield is 11.5 inch – 12.25. This is for kids from 7 to 12 years old. There are also different adult sizes. Infield is 11.25 inch- 12 inch, 1st base is 12 inch – 13 inch and outfield is 12 inch – 12.75 inch. This is for players above the age of 12.
There are different gloves for different positions. An catcher uses a catcher mitt, The difference between a mitt and a fielding glove is that a mitt is more thicker and has some extra padding. The first baseman uses an mitt too, but this mitt has an extended piece to catch the ball more easily. The players that play on the outfield position uses an glove that 12,5 inch or bigger, but an infield player uses an glove between 11-12 inch.
The other positions uses normal baseball gloves or softball gloves.
A baseball glove or softball glove is for men and woman the same. There only is a difference between the size of adult gloves and kids gloves ( youth gloves ).
A glove is mostly made of leather except small reinforcement and some nylon thread, but there are different types of leather. There are also gloves made of kip leather, full grain leather, buffalo skin, cow hide and premium steer hide. Premium steer hide is used on the most exclusive gloves.
Wilson uses a material named supersnakeskin. This is a microfiber material that’s half the weight of pro stock leather and twice as durable.
Glove Maintenance and others
We have a lot of equipment for glove maintenance to keep you’re glove in good shape. We sell Franklin glove oil to keep the leather moisturized, but we also sell different types of Rawlings glovolium. We also sell glove lacing kits from different brands, equipment like needles for re-lacing and of course glove laces.
When you purchase a new glove it’s a little bit stiff. To make this softer you can use an Rawlings break-in kit. This kit ensures that your glove gets more soft and flexible. There are a couple other methods like pouring hot water over the glove. When you did this you have to move the thumb and pinky back and forth towards each other and away from each other. Now the break in begin. Pull the web top to stretch it a little. Repeat this process six to eight times before your glove is completely dry.
A softball glove and a baseball glove are looking very similar to each other. But the main difference is that a softball glove has a bigger pocket because a softball ball is bigger.
Wilson sporting goods company is an American sport equipment producer in Chicago. They make equipment for different sports among which baseball and softball. They made the most iconic baseball gloves. They made the Wilson A2K series and the Wilson A2000 series. The difference between the two is that the A2K gloves are a newer series and more expensive. The A2K series is made of pro stock leather and the A2000 is made of American steerhide. Also is the A2K glove known for their long-term durability because of the craftmanship.
Rawlings is an company that sells baseball and softball equipment. They are one of the best baseball and softball brands of the world. Once a year, Rawlings reach out the golden glove award to the best preforming player in the MLB. They also made an glove series that’s named the gold glove series. This are the best gloves that they make and sell because, the Rawlings Gold Glove series delivers the ultimate in playability and feel and is inspiring a new generation of defensive excellence. Built from ultra-premium Pro Preferred Kip leather for the unparalleled feel, quality and performance that the game's biggest stars demand. Each Gold Glove is carefully handcrafted by the most experienced master-craftsmen and individually numbered with their initials and the date the glove was built.
Rawlings custom gloves
We provide the option to make an Rawlings custom baseball glove or a Rawlings custom softball glove. There are endless combinations possible.
First you have to choose what sport you play. This can be softball or baseball. Then you choose between 2 different materials, pro preferred (kip leather) and heart of the hide (steer leather) for baseball and for softball you have one additional option: Liberty Advanced. This is designed for the hand of an female athlete. When you choose this you have to determent the fit that matches your hand, size, position and which pattern you want. After this, the customization start. You can customize the style of the web like a H-web, the colour, the Rawlings patch, shell back leather colour, shell palm leather colour, the laces of the finger, web and heel, the lining, the welting on back and front, the binding colour, the trim colour, the stitch colour, the stamping colour, the finger pad and hood, the palm pad, the heel pad, the wrist liner, with or without an sweatband and how much you want the factory to break-in your glove. The final options are deciding the font and colour of the embroidered Rawlings logo, your own embroidered text, number and colour of this and you can choose to personalize it with a flag. This can be your own nationality.
Baseball gloves have different types of webbing.A couple examples are a basket web type, trapeze web type, modified trap web type, H-web type, I-web type, cross web type or two-piece web type.
First basemen uses single post web type or modified h-web type or dual bar web type.
Catcher uses half moon web type or one-piece web type.
A pitcher uses an closed web so no one can see how he is holding the ball for the throw.