Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

I was just looking pictures of boz2730's stunning PRO-12TC Custom, and I noticed how the Trap-Eze is laced...it's not quite "interlaced", with one lace going over, then under the other. Rather, one entire lace is located entirely in front of (or in back of) the other.

Just recently, I noticed that on my PRO-TB, and I thought it'd look better if I interlaced them, and after I did it, I was really happy with it. But is there any reason why Rawlings laces them that way? Is there anything wrong with what I did - other than altering how Rawlings has done it for 60 years, that is...

The only "reason" I can think of for Trap-Eze gloves being laced the way they are is that that's just the way they started doing it when the first "Trapper" first base mitts were introduced back in the 1940's.

The same lace pattern was retained when the Trap-Eze web was first introduced to fielder's gloves in 1960. And why not? It is an efficient and functional design that has served them well for many years.

Rawlings seems to have also introduced a version of the "interlaced" pattern you describe, where a single lace wraps over and under around itself, on the "modified" or "T" Trapper webs that followed in the early 60's.

I see this "interlaced" pattern on a lot of the modern "trapper" style webs, such as the "Ichiro" Pro Limited models from Mizuno.

From a manufacturing standpoint, perhaps the older style is more cost effective, as it would be a little less labor intensive. I've worked on gloves with both types of patterns and it really does take some extra time and effort to interlace the web how you describe. Keeping a manufactured item simple to produce and easy to repeat is a goal that often drives small, almost unnoticable design changes.

Its cheaper the old way and still works. Also if you look at the Modified trap you will see it tends to cave in toward the pocket istead forming deeper. Very difficult to over come that also

Dead on Doc,

Not to mention that it is quite tedious to accurately snug up a Modified Trap, but is is child's play to get a regular Trap tight in about 2 minutes.

That being said, I typically prefer the modified Trap....maybe because I have played goalie for so long, and it reminds me of the trapper what I use. 8)