The History and Use of a Baseball Glove

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Baseball has grown as a sport. It’s become a nationwide entertainment and a symbol of American culture. Every dad spends a little time on the weekends throwing a few balls and catching them. It’s what we see in movies and it’s a great time to make a bond between a father and a son. For those who love it, they continue playing in school, college and then maybe even become professionals. And it can all start in a regular backyard with a ball and a glove.

In baseball, two things are most important. Those are the throwing and the speed of the ball, and the ability to hit and catch the ball. Everything else can be overlooked, but those things will always be what matters most. Also, baseball wasn’t always as we know it now. There were a lot of improvements to the game, and all the equipment being used now wasn’t used before. That’s especially true for the baseball glove. It has a history of its own and we’ll look why it was first invented, and why it’s such a symbol today. You can read more about it here: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/08/sports/baseball/to-break-in-their-gloves-yankees-dunk-tenderize-and-lather-up.html

The history of the baseball glove

Back in the 1860s, no one was wearing gloves. Everyone was catching balls with their hands and even when someone tried to mention something related to some form of protection that was frowned upon. It was thought that wearing hand protection was unmanly and most of the players became injured. Of course, that’s bound to happen since the fastest ball has been recorded to be at 100 miles per hour. That can cause immense damage to the hands and so, players had to use some kind of protection.

The first gloves were just two pieces of leather designed to protect the hands. Since then, the industry has evolved so much, that it’s now a million dollar business. And the first man who ever thought of creating one was Doug Alison. He wore one in the year 1870 because he had suffered a terrible hand injury. Then, the history books say that Waitt Charles was the next one to do it. Apart from being the first noted and confirmed player to wear a glove, he also wanted to go unnoticed. He wore one that had the color of his skin so it couldn’t be seen. Click here for more.

Most of the players then compared the game of baseball to the game of cricket. Since the cricket players weren’t wearing gloves, why should the baseball players wear them? But, as time passed, that kind of thinking proved to be wrong. Players everywhere were getting injured and what needed to happen eventually happened. After the year 1890, the rules were changed and now gloves could be worn and that was a part of the norm.

No one knows who the first one to invent the glove was. But, the first one invented was the catcher’s glove. They took the biggest shots and they suffered the most injuries. The greatest proof of manliness was for a catcher to show himself at one hundred games. That was incredibly difficult and it was considered to be a fantastic marvel.

What about now?

Now, there is a myriad of different models and types of gloves. All of them are good and all of them serve to remind us of a time back in history. Now, gloves are made to be more robust and to be used for more than a hundred games. Here’s the Official Top 5 Review on the best ones today.

What to do after you get a glove?

After you get one, you’ll notice that it’s very stiff. It doesn’t have the capacity to catch all types of balls and you can’t pick up balls from the ground. So, the way to break them in and make them usable for a game is to call up a few friends and play catch. This has proven to be the best method to break in a glove since it reduces the stiffness the more times it’s used. Of course, there are more methods to do this and this one is the most time-consuming. But, it is also the best method overall. So, gather up and start throwing a baseball.