The last quick spin 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 the glove was purchased and a little more during the playing season would have prevented the tears that he was now repairing.

Of course, the breaks happened during the new high school season, so glove downtime was a bad thing. And as he was sitting there repairing this glove, it was clear that he never took any glove care, probably never. When I got the glove, the leather was stiff, the laces were stiff and brittle in places, and the glove wasn’t far from breaking. The sad thing is, it wasn’t such an old baseball glove and it was quite an expensive brand name glove.

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

New glove

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

• One of the most important things to do with 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 can settle after applying the conditioner so that it can absorb better.
• Probably the most important thing is not use oils on your baseball glove. Use conditioners that are paste and / or lanolin-based. Oils, like oxfoot oil, make the glove heavy and wet, but worse, the 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 in older gloves that were treated with oils and are falling apart.

Before the season

• Inspect glove laces and tighten any really loose sections and repair or replace broken laces. This probably should have been done after the last season ended.
• If nothing was done to the baseball glove after last season, clean it and rub it in with a little conditioner.
• If the glove was 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 muddy, remove the mud and let the glove dry on its own … no ovens and don’t leave it in the sun to dry. Let it dry inside on its own. If you notice that the leather feels a bit dry from multiple wet / dry cycles, simply apply a light coat of conditioner at some point when you see this happen to your baseball glove.
• Extended dry spells where the glove experiences really hot and dry weather can sometimes require a light coat of conditioner. Clean dirt and dust and apply conditioner.
• Keep the laces tight, just like when you originally bought the glove.
• Fix broken laces. In reality, this shouldn’t happen that often if you’ve kept the glove clean and conditioned. However, you should fix broken laces as soon as possible. It is a good idea to learn or try to do it yourself from a cost point of view and without having to lose your glove for a few days or a week.

After the season

• Clean as much dirt, dust, and dried mud from the baseball glove as possible.
• Tighten loose laces.
• Repair broken laces or replace laces that you know may break next season.
• Store the baseball glove in a place that is not directly exposed to sunlight and is 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 smoothness. If you keep the laces tight and strong, the baseball glove will retain the shape it took when you broke it to fit your hand when the glove was new. And you can prevent unforeseen lace breaks that lead to downtime and the temporary loss of your favorite glove.

Basically, the baseball glove lasts … and it saves you from having to go through the hassle of buying a new (and expensive!) Glove and then going through the shooting process one more time. And it’s just one of those things … the more you play and have your favorite glove, the better you will become with it.

Baseball glove care. Just do it!