Inexpensive Glove Recommendations?

[newbs]

I am looking to get a decent quality glove at a reasonable price. I bought a $22 el-cheapo by Franklin from Target last week that did not appear to have used any real leather, and I decided to return it and get a "real" glove.

My main reason for getting a glove is to play with my kids. Our son is 6 and has just started showing an interest in baseball. Obviously, I don't need a glove to play with him at this point, but I'd like to start breaking one in. I'd like to get something that I can use over the next 5-10 years to play catch with him. I may also use it infrequently (once or twice a year) for casual softball games, etc. I did not play baseball growing up, so I don't really know much about gloves and other equipment.

Based on my needs, I don't want to spend too much money, but I want to get something that will last, and that will be good for someone like me who is relatively new to baseball. Is there any practical difference between a softball glove (slow or fast pitch) and a baseball glove? I am thinking that I should get something in the 12"-12.5" range for a reasonable all-purpose glove. I saw some gloves from Nokona and Worth in the $50 range that look OK. Would those be good for a beginner?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Gloves22]

you could probably spend $40 or $50 and do much better than the $22 cheapo.

Some of these are ok to just throw around...

http://www.ballglovewarehouse.com/default.aspx?s=44.99+Rawlings+Gloves

Good luck!

[MAS]

I would recommend that you look on Ebay. Depending on your price point, you can either find a decent glove new or find an older glove, spend about $15 on new laces and relace it.

I have picked up several decent gloves in the past several months for less than $50. More of the midrange rawlings gloves. They are older but have the leather piping where as most gloves sold today have vinyl piping until you get to the $100 price point.

Most gloves sold today, even in the $40-$50 price range are crap. They have vinyl or pigskin (the very soft and not durable leather for lining). They don't last long.

I think the glove manufactures think that today people would rather have a glove that is game ready straight off the shelf, so they make gloves with cheap soft leather.

Even if you find something with vinyl piping like the 1980's Rawlings signature gloves you should be able to pick something like that up for less than $20 and it would be much higher quality than the gloves you could find for $40 today at Wal-Mart, Target etc.

[Union-LL-AA-Dad]

newbs,
I was in the same boat as you a few months ago. My then 6-yr old son was starting his rookie season in Little League (2 levels up from tee ball, 7-9 yr olds). I needed a glove to play catch with him. I bought him an 11" Nike glove (Call Up, Keystone Series, 1100) and myself a 12.50" Nike (Call Up, Keystone Series, 1250) from the Nike Outlet store for less than $40 each. Both gloves broke in nicely within weeks. The 12.5" is a decent all-purpose size. Now I'm looking to go to the next level for myself, probably a Wilson A2000 or A2K. Both gloves are made in Phillipines.