Breaking in a new glove

Well the kids got new baseball gloves & I haven’t broke one in for a long time. Any new idea’s or just do it the old way with oil & baseball?

Why changed what always has worked.
DT

I’ve broken in quite a few over the years…I’m 64 and my arm is gone now, but I can still swing the bat pretty well…

I used neatsfoot oil, as my dad did…rub it in good, put a ball in the sweet(pocket) spot, fold it closed and put a big rubber band around it overnight.
Here’s what the Pros say…
Glove break in

I just did one…. Wouldnt recommend this method if you plan on getting 10 yrs out of it, but my son is 8 and he will out grow it in a couple years….
Completely cover in edge shaving gel (rubbed in well), really coat the ties… Pre-heat oven to 400, wrap glove in tinfoil, shut off oven and set glove in there for 8-10 minutes… Repeat if necessary but mine went from stiff to perfect in first attempt….
Once again, not recommended if you plan on using for more than a few years…

barbasol shaving cream worked great on my glove.

Man this post brings back some memories…..In college we would use shaving cream to keep the inside of the glove soft. As far as breaking in the glove the best thing to do is play catch with it, when not in use put the baseball into the “sweet spot” like mentioned before and wrap with rubber band. Then keep playing catch and keep wrapping the glove with rubber band. We also would apply the shaving cream to the glove about once every 2 weeks while breaking the new mit in, and about once a week during the season.

By the way we used the barbsol shaving cream not any of the new gel stuff.. Maybe it was shaving foam?

I have 3 boys that I had to do gloves last year. I picked up a spray called Hot Glove heat treatment. Works great just follow directions. I got it at Sports Authority.Hope that helps

Oil it up… put a baseball in the sweet spot… put it in a plastic bag, slide it between the mattress’ for a couple nights, then lots of catch

big G

The rest of the guys hit right on but just DO NOT put it in the oven! That is one of the fastest ways to ruin the leather on a nice glove.

i used to use bear grease or mink oil. I also have heard of using saddle soap

shane

I remember my dad using saddle soap on mine. Ball in the sweet spot,wrap it up and put it under my mattress for a couple of nights. We played catch ever night after he got home from work. I sure do miss him. Best friend I ever had.

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Oil it up… put a baseball in the sweet spot… put it in a plastic bag, slide it between the mattress’ for a couple nights, then lots of catch

big G

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YEP… A can of glove oil, a ball or two in the pocket and glove (depending on how you want the shape) and sleep on it for a few weeks. Every couple days (heck everyday if you can make it happen) take it out and play some catch. More oil and repeat! Got a new one every couple years years from 5th grade through college and it seemed like I always reverted back to the old until the holes were too big to fix!

Just be sure to have the kid do the oiling and rubbing. Lets them feel it’s “theirs” and they are responsible for it.

I used the oven treatment years and years ago. Worked great for me and the glove lasted more then 8 years. But then again we were playing 60-80 games (softball) a year and it might have been the occasional “beer” bath that made it last so long.

Thanks for all of the input guy’s.

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Oil it up… put a baseball in the sweet spot… put it in a plastic bag, slide it between the mattress’ for a couple nights, then lots of catch

big G

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Exactly the way I do it for the kids. Works great.

What we all did when we young enough to play softball was put ball in sweet spot use either rubber band or rope to tie it up and put in 5 gallon bucket of water for 24 hours then hang it up to dry completely then use a good glove oil on it.

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I just did one…. Wouldnt recommend this method if you plan on getting 10 yrs out of it, but my son is 8 and he will out grow it in a couple years….
Completely cover in edge shaving gel (rubbed in well), really coat the ties… Pre-heat oven to 400, wrap glove in tinfoil, shut off oven and set glove in there for 8-10 minutes… Repeat if necessary but mine went from stiff to perfect in first attempt….
Once again, not recommended if you plan on using for more than a few years…

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I caught in college and all through ametuer ball I ALLWAYS used Hot oil and stuck in the oven. A catchers mit is the WORST to break in. Love the oven trick! But like everyone says in will ruin the glove in the matter of time. But if your catching a couple hundered balls a day I like this one the best.

This post brought back some awesome memories!!! Hope the glove turns out!!