only because you all actually understand

[awarsoca]

LL practice started at the end of January. I've been to everyone (2x a week + a gmae a week since late Feb) with my 7 y/o son. There are a few other parents who come all of the time (and some who don't come at all) Some of the parents were talking about gloves at practice last night. We were discussing sizes of certain kids gloves compared to their hand size and position. One of the mom's was trying to figure wout what band of glove her son had, Easton, Wilson? I told her, it was a Rawlings. I proceeded to name off the brands each of the gloves of each of the kids. She looked at me and said, "what are you some kind of glove rain Man?"

I still haven't learned the myriad of model numbers but I know the brands.

[offsidewing]

Was the mom hot?

My mother was at almost every baseball/softball game, practice, and tournament for 20 years. She couldn't tell you what the heck glove any of us used, let alone name two brands. Yet, she could tell you the date and city of any given game we played in.

[Cusser]

When I coached LL baseball, the first day of practice I looked at all the kids' gloves, and talked to parents if the kid's glove wasn't flexible enough or right for them. Nothing discourages little kids than a stiff glove which couldn't catch a thing with their hand strength. My daughter used an old Rawlings Trapeze HOH bought used for $15. For new gloves, I told the parents "all-leather", and Mizuno made some models small and all leather that were easy to break in. I asked the kids, first day of practice each season: who's been hit by a ball that they caught? None had, so I told them that was the best way to make sure the ball didn't hit you - catch it.

My 17-year-old daughter is saving her little Mizuno glove for when she has kids as it's all leather, broken in, and in perfect shape.

[Cowboy7130]

A third Little League glove "sin" to me is to buy a glove "Johnny can grow into." I had an eleven-year old whose father went to Wal-Mart and bought him a 14" softball glove. He reasoned it would be big enough for years to come. It was. It still is. Poor kid couldn't catch a thing with it. it was like dragging around a laundry basket on his hand.

[BretMan]

I get a kick out of seeing kids with gloves that are obviously hand-me-down classics from dad. Since the high school season is in full swing around here, and I am umpiring games three or four days a week, I see a lot of gloves!

Recently saw a kid with a Rawlings Brooks Robinson XFCB-17, another with a Larry Bowa HJ29, then tonight worked behind a catcher with a nice HOH Johnny Bench mitt.

Great to see those old classics being put to good use!

[crackofthebat]

I coached Little league for 18 years. After the draft I would meet with each set of new parents to the team and their child to discuss safety concerns and gloves. If the glove was too large I would tell them to find another and save the big one for years to come. If it was plastic I told them to throw it away. I always kept a few small leather gloves the kids could use for the season if they didn't have an appropriate glove for their size. I think parents mean well, but are clueless about gloves their kids should be using. Some how they think "bigger" means "better" when it comes to gloves and don't realize how difficult it is for a kid to catch a ball with a bushel basket on his/her hand.

[ebbets55]

I just got back from my son's game. I'm coaching his team, the Single A Mets. He's seven and in machine pitch. One of the seven year old kids came up to me before the game and asked me if he could try my glove so we swapped. He had a blonde Rawlings RBG36 Dale Murphy glove. It fit me. It's big on him but he catches well with it. It's one of the bigger gloves on the team and it's also the only real glove. It must have come from his dad. My boy is using a new all leather Rawlings A-Rod model, 11" I think. It's still not the right glove for him. After seeing the other kid with the Murphy glove, I'm seriously thinking about going a bit more vintage for him.

JD

[offsidewing]

I used my father's Curt Blefary XPG12 in 9-10 ball. There weren't many decent little league gloves in the early 80's. The glove opened and closed so nicely that the size was managable.

Try to picture a ten year old twisting two at second with a XPG 12.

Flex o matic baby!

[BretMan]

Along the same lines as kids using a way too big glove, another thing I see a lot is gloves that have not had the thumb or pinky loops adjusted.

Tightenting those loops goes a long way toward providing a custom fit. And, more importantly, having them snug provides much more leverage from the hand, a better ability to open and close the glove and a tighter grip on the ball.

[vintagebrett]

i was forced by my dad to play little league ball with this piece of junk.

[opticsp]

Your dad must still love you for it!

[jwoody]

SOME OF US WERE NOT THAT LUCKY, WILL WOULD SHARE OUR GLOVES OR BORROW ONE FROM OUR OPPONENTS....

[wjr953]

I coached LL baseball for a number of years. I had a kid that played for me who was a bit of a scatterbrain. Really nice kid, but very forgetful. He would show up at games missing things. Once or twice it was his hat, two or three other times it was his glasses, once it was his uniform socks. On and on it went through the season. We were doing pre-game warm-ups one day and I was hitting fly balls to the outfielders. This youngster was dropping everything he touched, and he was usually more sure-handed than that. I asked him if he had his glasses on and he replied in the affirmative. Then I noticed an odd color of glove that he was using as he was attempting to catch fly balls. Turns out, he had left his own glove out in the yard and it had rained heavily. The glove dried out but was stiff as a board. His Mom couldn't think of what else to do because she found this out just before they were leaving the house to go to the game. So she gave him his sister's PINK plastic glove to use. This kid was 11 years old and was using an 8" or 9" toy pink glove. When he came in from warm-ups, I told him (with as straight a face as I could muster) "son, you are NOT using that glove!" I lent him my own glove for that game. The other coaches in the league would have been all over me if they ever saw him using that pink plastic piece of junk in the game. I still laugh about that one when I think of it.

br