The History of the Baseball Glove
The first recorded instance of glove use during a baseball game was in 1870.
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The year is 1869. You are standing out in the field. A ball is hit and it comes screaming towards you. What do you do? You catch it. Ouch! Now you are suffering from sore and bruised hands. Fast forward to 2008. It is so obviously prevalent in baseball that the glove is a primary tool for catching those screamers.
But where did the glove first make its appearance and what led to it’s acceptance in baseball? Believe it or not, it was looked down on and you were a “sissy” if you wore a glove.
Now lets go back in time to the year 1870. The first recorded instance where a glove was used during a baseball game was by a catcher named Doug Allison. You see, Doug’s hands were split and cracked open from catching in other games earlier in the week. He decided to wear some kind of protection on his hands so that he could protect them from further damage. He got laughed at and mocked by his teammates. It would be five years before another player would don the glove again.
Now we arrive to the year 1875. Charlie Waitt, first baseman, would attempt to wear a glove for protection, but he tried hiding it by having a flesh colored glove. He, too would suffer humiliation from his teammates.
Albert Spalding (of the famed baseball glove and other sport oriented goods) is credited with taking the first steps to having the glove become more widely accepted. Spalding was such a great player that everyone respected him. In 1877, he wore some black gloves without any backlash. He later wrote “I had been playing so long, and became so well known that it was more to evoke sympathy than hilarity (Darrick paraphrase)
Eventually, other players caught on to the fad and started understanding the benefits to wearing a glove. But still, not every player would follow suit. The last holdout would be hall-of- famer.
Bid McPhee as very stubborn but a standout in baseball. Finally in 1896, he caved in and got the glove, thus drastically reducing his forty five error season down to only fifteen.
In the early 1900’s, baseballs would be thrown harder and players would still suffer from cuts and bruises despite the glove. Glove manufacturers started adding webbing to compensate for this. Still, catchers would receive the brunt of throws, so gloves with thick padding would come into play as a protection to the catchers.
Well into the 1940’s the gloves would lace the fingers together to allow more control to the players. This went on well into modern day era.
The final tweaking of the glove, deepening the pockets and closed backs for even greater control, and finally basket webs so that pitchers could hide their pitching grip.
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i love you.
i love fowlerville high school and i cry myself to sleep every night knowing that i have to leave.
i ♥ baseball!
and this is really good to know about baseball/softball!
so now i know more about it when i play!
This is great for my report on the history of the baseball glove. I just love baseball and i have played it every year since i was 4
Imagine a rock flying at you at 60 mph and caching it. That is exactly what the baseball players long ago had to do except that the rock was actually a baseball. Ouch, that would hurt a lot. Imagine all the injuries the players would get caching the ball. Some of the players started to wear gloves to prevent injuries. The simple glove that was first introduced to baseball in the 1870s was very different from the currently used gloves today.
One of the first players to use a glove was Doug Allison in 1870. He was the catcher for the Cincinnati Red Stockings. The reason why he got a glove was that he suffered from bruises and cuts on his hands. His glove was a pair of mittens made of buckskin leather. He did not wear the glove for long because he was teased and mocked.
Another player was Charles Waitt. In 1875, he got a glove too. He was an outfielder and first baseman. He played for the St.Louis Brown Stockings. Waitt used the glove for the same reason Allison used the glove for he had cuts and bruises. Waitt also was teased and mocked because at the time, using a glove was called “unmanly” and people who used gloves were referred to as “sissies.”
One of the most important players was Albert Spalding. In 1877, Spalding got a glove. Spalding pitched and played first base for the Chicago White Stockings. He was not teased or mocked because he was well known and respected on the field. He was important because he got other players to start using a glove. That is why now days every player on the field wears a glove.
Baseball gloves have changed a lot. Early baseball gloves were made of leather with the fingers cut off to give the owners the same control of a bare hand. Then the pointer finger and the thumb were laced together to create more control. Players still suffered from bruises and cuts so glove manufactures started putting more padding in them. Then for the touch up, they made a web to catch the ball between the thumb finger and pointer finger.
Gloves today are very different from the gloves in the 1870s. Beside that, there are different gloves for different positions. There is a special glove for first base and catcher A first baseman’s glove is very big because the first baseman needs a lot of range. A catchers glove is about 2/3rds of the size of a first baseman’s and has a lot more padding because balls pitched as hard as 90 mph are hitting the glove about 300 times per game. An outfielders glove is usually big so they can have a few inches more to catch the ball. An in fielders glove is the smallest of all the gloves because the in fielder needs more control. All modern gloves have pockets and the fingers are laced together.
What would baseball be without gloves? The pitchers would have to throw the ball a lot softer and there would still be injuries.
Imagine a rock flying at you at 60 mph and caching it. That is exactly what the baseball players long ago had to do except that the rock was actually a baseball. Ouch, that would hurt a lot. Imagine all the injuries the players would get caching the ball. Some of the players started to wear gloves to prevent injuries. The simple glove that was first introduced to baseball in the 1870s was very different from the currently used gloves today.
One of the first players to use a glove was Doug Allison in 1870. He was the catcher for the Cincinnati Red Stockings. The reason why he got a glove was that he suffered from bruises and cuts on his hands. His glove was a pair of mittens made of buckskin leather. He did not wear the glove for long because he was teased and mocked.
Another player was Charles Waitt. In 1875, he got a glove too. He was an outfielder and first baseman. He played for the St.Louis Brown Stockings. Waitt used the glove for the same reason Allison used the glove for he had cuts and bruises. Waitt also was teased and mocked because at the time, using a glove was called “unmanly” and people who used gloves were referred to as “sissies.”
One of the most important players was Albert Spalding. In 1877, Spalding got a glove. Spalding pitched and played first base for the Chicago White Stockings. He was not teased or mocked because he was well known and respected on the field. He was important because he got other players to start using a glove. That is why now days every player on the field wears a glove.
Baseball gloves have changed a lot. Early baseball gloves were made of leather with the fingers cut off to give the owners the same control of a bare hand. Then the pointer finger and the thumb were laced together to create more control. Players still suffered from bruises and cuts so glove manufactures started putting more padding in them. Then for the touch up, they made a web to catch the ball between the thumb finger and pointer finger.
Gloves today are very different from the gloves in the 1870s. Beside that, there are different gloves for different positions. There is a special glove for first base and catcher A first baseman’s glove is very big because the first baseman needs a lot of range. A catchers glove is about 2/3rds of the size of a first baseman’s and has a lot more padding because balls pitched as hard as 90 mph are hitting the glove about 300 times per game. An outfielders glove is usually big so they can have a few inches more to catch the ball. An in fielders glove is the smallest of all the gloves because the in fielder needs more control. All modern gloves have pockets and the fingers are laced together.
What would baseball be without gloves? The pitchers would have to throw the ball a lot softer and there would still be injuries.