They don't make gloves like they used to...

Speaking of gloves, I just bought a new one yesterday. Any advice on how to work it in?

Your father got that glove when he was 10 and it has the Batter's Box logo and URL on it? Wow! Somebody in the baseball glove factory outlet store was prescient!

I have my dad's old three-fingered (a first basemen's mitt I think) that is really old school. Haven't seen one like it in ages.

Ah, the memories of childhood... playing catch in the yard. So much fun. Thanks for posting that pic, NFH. Good memories...

Glove advice... my ONLY advice, really, is that there aren't any shortcuts. (This is particularly sad advice as far as I'm concerned... I had a wonderful infielder's glove, small floppy and tight to the hand like I like it. It had been my dad's glove in the early 60s (his hands are bigger than mine and I have no idea how he ever used it). It went missing in a recent move, and I can't bear to start breaking in its replacement yet).

(1) use a specialty glove oil, or simply neat's-foot oil (if you can't find glove oil, go to a tack shop or saddlery and ask for neat's-foot oil), and apply it once (only once) over the entire glove. Use a cloth and don't oversaturate - just use a bit and wait for the leather to absorb it. After that first application, apply it a few times more while you break the glove in, over a period of a month or more, but just where you need the glove to be flexible.

(2) play catch to break the glove in. If you can't play catch, the Glen Gorbous drill (throw the ball straight up in the air) would probably work fine. Pounding a ball into the pocket repetitively will help develop a pocket, but won't do a thing to help the stiffness otherwise because it's not a natural catching motion.

I just saw (did a quick google in thinking what to write for this) a brilliant suggestion to break in a glove - you can go to a batting cage and catch the balls instead of hitting them. Never thought of that before.

After a month of daily catch, your glove should be pretty awesome. I guess you could play catch all day for a weekend, too, or something...

(3) once broken in, keep the glove clean. This sounds obvious, but dirt and mud will do damage to it. And when it gets wet, don't put it on the radiator - I wrecked a glove this way when I was younger.

(4) keep a ball in the pocket when you store the glove. I never used to do this, but it's darned good advice.

Also, you can call up the manufacturer of your glove for advice on this, better than anything I could do...

Here's another tip: Next time you're watching a ball game, hold the glove with two hands in front of you. Grasp the thumb of the glove with one hand, and the pinky with the other hand. Pull the thumb toward you, and push the pinky away...then reverse. Do this motion over and over while the game's on, and you'll be amazed at how flexible the leather will become. Then, as Craig suggests, put your glove to rest with a ball in it.

It's too late for me to give you this advice now, but I would urge everybody to check out the pre-oiled gloves from either Wilson or Mizuno. They're absolutely awesome and well worth the extra few bucks.

I lost my glove a few years back, and since all I've been doing these last few years is play catch with Liam I've actually been using my old, old glove. From when I was a teenager.

That's right - my Dave Cash model.

You don't see a lot of them around.

Breaking in a glove, what a great feeling.

- put a ball in the glove and put thick elastic bands around it
- play catch!!
- I remember when I was a kid I would sit on my glove while watching tv, seems a little odd but it helps...

Marc, your Dad's old three-fingered first-baseman's glove is probably the (Wilson) "Trapper" model--state of the art at one time. I still have mine; but my favourite remains my ancient (1947/8) Wilson "Ballhawk" model--three fingers with a web between the thumb and the two fingers. Small by today's standards, but it got the job done--in fact the web almost seemed like cheating, we thought.

We used to sit outside at recess and, if not in the field, burn our initials into the strapping with a magnifying-glass. Big stuff.

Neatsfoot oil is still around at many shoemakers' shops.

Dad's glove is a Cooper-Weeks Hand Lock. Three fingers. He'd be 10 in 1953.

The Rawlings Silverback series is the best looking set of gloves i've seen out in a long time. I suggest anyone looking for a new glove check them out. I bought mine yesterday. Its very comfortable and almost feels like its part of your hand.

If anyone's looking for gloves, glove care accessories and products to lengthen your gloves life or break it in, I found a great baseball store in Bloor West village last year called "Ward and Patch" sports. It's a smaller, more local store, but the people know their stuff and can really help you with your glove or other equipment.

Ward & Patch is also the biggest retailer of umpiring equipment in the province. I've ordered a few things from them in the past and have always been satisfied.

I remember when the Cooper Diamond-Deluxe glove was the glove to have in the late 1970s when I was growing up. You don't see too many of those gloves anymore. Even for us Americans, you just had to have a Cooper glove. Does anyone remember them? They were outfield-size, with a closed back and an open web.

Speaking of Cooper, how come players don't use Cooper bats anymore. They were so popular in the 1990s.

This year I purchased a 12 3/4 inch Wilson first basemans mitt. Although the quality of the glove is not as great as my Wilson A2000 XLO glove it is a real "fun" glove to play catch with. You just can't miss with a glove that big! It would be a little awkward in game situations, however.

I have a suggestion about glove break in. I prefer using shaving foam to oil. It is less heavy and your glove will not get all greasy. Who likes a heavy, greasy, glove...

Sorry if you've answered this before Aaron (I wasn't around much over the winter), but what kind of camera are you using for these shots? They've been great for the last couple of weeks.

Thanks.

This was a Pentax 67, with the 75mm f2.8 AL lens. Film was Velvia 100F.