How to Properly Maintain Your Baseball Glove
Thanks to the secrets of my grandpa’s wisdom, I still have my old baseball glove. He taught me what to do, and more importantly what not to do, to take care of my ball glove.
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Grandpa taught me to use untreated petroleum jelly on my mitt, and to work it in and wipe it away’ every fall before I retire my gloves until next year’s spring training.
Even today professional baseball glove repairmen and leather specialists agree that untreated petroleum jelly is ideal for cleaning and conditioning leather.
Breaking in a new glove?
During the initial break-in period, you should treat your new glove with a light application of untreated petroleum jelly – working it right into the leather. This will reduce the stiffness of the new leather and facilitate a faster and more comfortable breaking in procedure.
Also, at the end of the season, take a generous amount of petroleum jelly and thoroughly cover the entire outside and inside of the glove. Don’t ignore the laces or hard to-get-to areas.
Then take a clean rag and wipe away excess lube to remove grit and grime. This will also remove and help neutralize much of the salt and acid buildup inside the glove caused by perspiration, a chief problem to the leather lining, usually made of softer leather.
What Not To Do:
Some of the guys on my ball team were using neats foot oil, and linseed oil and some other silicon-type sprays. Over time that stuff ruins baseball gloves, and I told them so but they didn’t listen. I watched as, over the course of the season, their gloves got stiffer and stiffer. I’ll bet none of those guys have those particular baseball gloves today.
