How do YOU break in your glove?

[Gloves22]

Everybody seems to have a different idea for breaking in their glove - how do you do it? What are your tricks?

Share your secrets here...

[Monarchs]

Try this stuff. It is the best conditioner I have ever used.

http://www.justwoodbats.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=794

[ksbs99]

A little vasaline in the palm , I place a ball in the pocket and tie it together with the thumb and pinky overlapping each other .

[kelleyathletic]

http://www.kelleyathletic.com

Let's start with what you should NOT do when breaking your glove in:

Do Not soak your glove in water
Do Not bake your glove in the oven
Do Not microwave your glove
Do Not put any petroleum substances on your glove

All Kelley gloves come pre deep-oiled to help with break-in. You will notice that your Kelley glove is probably a little more stiff than the ones you pick up in a retail store. This is because we use thicker/higher grade materials in our products. By injecting oil during the tanning process, we are helping with the break-in of your glove. You will not notice this benefit until you start to use your glove and the oil begins to break it in from the inside out! This method allows us to put the best possible materials into our gloves in order to create a product that will hold its form and last with rigorous play - yet will still be easy to break-in. You don't have to put any oil on your glove to break it in, however, putting Kelley Glovolution in the palm/hinge area will help to expedite the process:

Put a liberal amount of Kelley Glovolution on the palm area and rub it in. Unlike other oils, Kelley Glovolution will not make your glove heavy. Also rub small amounts of oil into the strings throughout the glove.

The next step is to work in the hinges. The hinges are what allow the glove to close. To work the hinges, we recommend you do the following:

Put your hand in the glove and begin to close it. You will see the hinges fold near the areas marked above. Once you have found your hinge break-points, remove your glove and begin gently folding it back and forth in these areas. Do this 50 to 75 times or until the hinges feel comfortable to you.

The best and most natural way to form your pocket is to play catch. By doing this, the pocket will become customized to your catching style. Another way you can form your pocket is by pounding the pocket area with your fist. When you do not have time to work with your glove, put a softball in it and wrap it closed.

You should always keep something in your glove when you are not using it. Not only will this help to insure a nice pocket, but it will keep your glove from getting lonely as well!

We have come up with a few things you can do to maintain the look, performance and life of your glove:
clean your glove as often as possible (use a damp cloth)
keep the strings on your glove tight
refrain from throwing your glove
recondition it with Kelley Glovolution once per month
as mentioned before, keep something in the pocket
if you feel your glove starting to dry out, lightly rub some Olive Oil in it
if possible, be selfish with your glove. other users will hamper the custom fit
talk to your glove often. praise it for good work

[barras15]

Olive oil? Olive oil can go rancid over time and would you really want to do this to your fine leather glove? Not trying to bash you but personally I think it is a really bad idea.

[dpwls]

Kelleyathletic is pretty much right on. The olive oil thing is a little odd, but not a big deal really. Overall it's good advice, I'd say.

If you google "how to break in your glove" you'll be amazed at the ridiculous things you'll find... most of which kellyathletic refers to, such as putting your glove in the oven, or soaking it in motor oil... complete garbage. When breaking in a glove, a good rule of thumb to avoid those huge mistakes is... if it seems ridiculous, don't do it.

When I was a kid I used to use mink oil on my gloves, but once I found out that petroleum products actually eat away the leather over time, I immediately stopped using that. The fact is you don't need to use alot of oil to break in a glove. Most people use too much. Look for glove conditioners that don't contain petroleum. Usually they're lanolin based. Wilson makes a good conditioner that can be found at most sporting goods stores for about $5.

Oil the pocket and the hinge points and then just use it as much as possible. Work the hinge points and areas where you want flexibility in the webbing, etc... you want to be able to open it as wide as possible and squeeze it easily. Everyone has their own preference of course, but if you're like me you don't want your glove to be flat when it's closed. Don't run over it with your car (that should be on your "ridiculous" list). You simply want it to move easily, but have a well formed pocket that stays open even when the glove is closed. The best way to achieve that is to pummel the pocket with a ball as much as possible. I've found that weighted training softballs are most effective for this - the heavier, the better (and you'll build your arm strength at the same time!). When you're not using the glove, keep it tightly tied closed with a softball in the pocket.

Another thing that I've found incredibly helpful for glove control in general is wearing the glove using only 3 of the 4 finger stalls... pinky and ring finger in the last stall together, middle finger in the next consecutive stall by itself, index finger in the next stall (or out) leaving the index finger stall empty altogether - much like a catcher's mitt is designed to be worn. You'll find many pro's wearing their gloves this way. It can reduce break-in time as well as increase your overall control of the glove. You'll also reduce the "sting" factor when catching balls right in the pocket. To do this, it's best to break the glove in this way from the beginning. It's more difficult to adjust once the glove has already been broken in worn the traditional way.

[OCSG]

Two things we have done that really seem to work:

1. - with the glove standing upright place a hand on each side of the glove and manipulate the glove in a "push pull" motion (go up with your left hand, down with your right). This helps break in the heel of the glove.

2 - Place the glove in a dark plastic bag. Tie the bag closed and simply place it on the dash board of your car with the windshield facing the sun. The idea is to allow the glove to become naturally warm. Well made gloves will have a certain amount of oil in them left over from the manufacturing process. This proceedure will allow those natural oils to be drawn to the surface. After several hours remove the glove and rub in any of the natural oils that may appear (sometimes a glove may "cool down" and a white film will be noticeable. This is simply the oil that was drawn to the surface before the glove cooled down. Rub it in as previously described.) Once you have complete this process repeat part 1 and of course, use the glove as much as possible to form it and break it in to your needs.

[JJsurfer96]

I break in all my gloves by playing catch with them. if I don't have anyone to trow it with, Then I will just crack some balls in it. This will take longer, but I still won't used any other method. No oil/conditioner, or microwaving, running it over with a car, and sleeping with it. I have found that all of those ruin the glove. I recommend playing with it and that's all.