Best Ideas for breaking in new glove quickly

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Apr 9, 2020
136
28
She didn't have any issue with the hand / finger stalls being stretched out?
no, the coach wasn't used enough to create that type of issue and the coach is female and doesn't have hamhock hands lol..good question though ,, mainly wanted the pocket famed properly rest from our experience takes care of it self with usage and care most of all ..my daughter at her first camp when young remembered a coach telling the girls after a camp some of her pet peeves and one that stuck with her was coach didn't like seeing the "pancakes" meaning the gloves that are just thrown to the ground flattened like pancake.. she says most of you had these expensive gloves bought for you by your parents and they are extension of you and should be cared for ... she looks for how they are cared for in her recruiting ... needless to say my daughter took it to heart and always lays her glove down properly when most just throw them wherever ... moral of story coaches see everything
 
Apr 9, 2020
136
28
just be careful, DD does not let any male coach put her mitt on, she/we do not want finger stalls stretchted out. when I work on it, I use tip of pinky and tip of thum about 1 inch into the ends of the mitt, that is all.
agree no ham hands in the glove and mores now since broken in she is cautious on who uses them even for demonstration purposes ..
 
Nov 8, 2020
402
43
For the record, the 2 products I recommended in this thread are not just for breaking the glove in but for keeping it game ready.


Obenauf's Heavy Duty Leather Preservative is a beeswax based product that will preserve and protect the leather from scuffing, tearing, absorbing sweat or any of the chemicals used to quick dry the fields, protects the glove from sun fade and even protects the stitching holding the leather together while helping the leather repel dirt without weighing the leather down.
It does make the leather soft and pliable which makes it beneficial to breaking in the glove but it's certainly not something you put on the glove for the purpose of breaking it in


Fiebings Golden Mink Oil is what I apply inside the hand and finger stalls and on the binding. The mink oil is used because it will waterproof the hand stalls and binding preventing your darling daughters sweat from soaking in to the glove and then cracking and drying the leather as the sweat dries in her bag. Also, the Fiebings will fight the bacteria that grows in that sweaty salty hand stall while it sits in darling daughters bag.



I have worked on gloves for 20+ years and have been around both baseball and fastpitch gloves used at the highest travel, college and professional levels. Make no mistake, the girls gloves are far nastier than the boys gloves. Darling daughter may not have sweatier hands than smelly son does but it's how the players wear and care for the gloves that makes the difference.
Girls stick their hands farther in to the glove than boys do, that leads to more palm inside the stall and more sweat from that palm.
Girls also wear their gloves tighter....and it's not just the velcro straps on the wrists. When fitting players for gloves the girls will almost always ask that the wrist is laced so tightly that the glove is attached to their arm. This also leads to more sweat inside the glove and less taking the glove off between pitches.
On top of those fitment differences, walk around a few travel ball tournaments and see the difference between boys and girls and their gloves. Boys will have their gloves on their heads or in their hands or in a mesh bag attached to the outside of their bag while they walk from field to field or to the car/bus after games. Girls will have their phones in their hands and the glove is at the bottom of their back pack with helmets and cleats and jackets or whatever else on top of them.

I have rarely had to deodorize male players gloves but will often have to with the female players gloves because of these differences. So any time someone asks me what to put on their glove, whether it's to break in or just maintain I recommend these 2 products. Then every few months you'll want to clean the hand stalls and reapply to keep the hand stalls from cracking or stinking

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
 
Jun 26, 2020
204
28
No water, oils, or creams on leather. Heat has near zero effect on leather. Ovens are fine to warm leather to accept conditioner.

Break in the hinges only and play catch
 
Dec 20, 2019
180
28
For the record, the 2 products I recommended in this thread are not just for breaking the glove in but for keeping it game ready.


Obenauf's Heavy Duty Leather Preservative is a beeswax based product that will preserve and protect the leather from scuffing, tearing, absorbing sweat or any of the chemicals used to quick dry the fields, protects the glove from sun fade and even protects the stitching holding the leather together while helping the leather repel dirt without weighing the leather down.
It does make the leather soft and pliable which makes it beneficial to breaking in the glove but it's certainly not something you put on the glove for the purpose of breaking it in


Fiebings Golden Mink Oil is what I apply inside the hand and finger stalls and on the binding. The mink oil is used because it will waterproof the hand stalls and binding preventing your darling daughters sweat from soaking in to the glove and then cracking and drying the leather as the sweat dries in her bag. Also, the Fiebings will fight the bacteria that grows in that sweaty salty hand stall while it sits in darling daughters bag.



I have worked on gloves for 20+ years and have been around both baseball and fastpitch gloves used at the highest travel, college and professional levels. Make no mistake, the girls gloves are far nastier than the boys gloves. Darling daughter may not have sweatier hands than smelly son does but it's how the players wear and care for the gloves that makes the difference.
Girls stick their hands farther in to the glove than boys do, that leads to more palm inside the stall and more sweat from that palm.
Girls also wear their gloves tighter....and it's not just the velcro straps on the wrists. When fitting players for gloves the girls will almost always ask that the wrist is laced so tightly that the glove is attached to their arm. This also leads to more sweat inside the glove and less taking the glove off between pitches.
On top of those fitment differences, walk around a few travel ball tournaments and see the difference between boys and girls and their gloves. Boys will have their gloves on their heads or in their hands or in a mesh bag attached to the outside of their bag while they walk from field to field or to the car/bus after games. Girls will have their phones in their hands and the glove is at the bottom of their back pack with helmets and cleats and jackets or whatever else on top of them.

I have rarely had to deodorize male players gloves but will often have to with the female players gloves because of these differences. So any time someone asks me what to put on their glove, whether it's to break in or just maintain I recommend these 2 products. Then every few months you'll want to clean the hand stalls and reapply to keep the hand stalls from cracking or stinking

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
Have you heard of mitt spit? They have a conditioner that help with breaking in a new glove. They are can of pricy for the small amount you get, but the conditioner is cheaper than replacing a new glove. Lol
 
Last edited:
May 20, 2015
1,095
113
girls gloves got a light clean and light obenauf's inside and out today - we'll do the same at the end of school ball season

love that stuff......keeps the leather soft and moisturized without adding weight

and we have a rule....gloves must be put back in the bag with a ball and a wrap....always

DD1 is a MINF - she never misses a beat.....she also has a nice glove

DD2 is a catcher who also uses a fielding glove at times.....she is, um, less reliable with her fielding glove than DD1......she is also less fussy lol
 

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