Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

Has anyone come up with a surefire method to cleaning glove patches? I've never had the gonads to attempt using any sort of detergent on the patches in my collection and haven't had the time to experiment with beaters yet. Before I begin accumulating a bunch of rough gloves to play around with, I was wondering if anyone has undertaken this trial yet.

For some reason, I want to try OxyClean, but it may just be Billy Mays salesmanship! Seriously, I'm afraid of color bleeding or complete color removal from the fabric. Any direction would be appreciated!

Something I have tried with good success is a SMALL amount of toothpaste on a soft bristle brush. Seriously just enough to generate a lather. Rub gently in the direction of the embroidery for ~20-30 seconds. Apply a little water and then remove with cloth or gentle vacuum. (Don't suck the patch off!) Repeating does not seem to help immensely.

Also, this works best on patches where the stitching is still strong just dirty. The more the patch is frayed the easier it is for the toothbrush to loosen up stitches. If this happens you can use a fingernail clipper to cut a loose stitch close to the patch. However, clipping more than one or two in the same spot creates a patch that looks odd because it is clean but missing stitches.


Good luck.

Forum member Stockbuddy suggested Woolite to me at one time. I did try it on one glove & happy with the results.
I mixed one part Woolite with 3 parts water, soaked a small clean rag (I used a face cloth) in the solution, wet the patch with water, ring the rag out and dab the patch. I used a hair dryer to dry the patch & then repeated the dabbing.
I removed a considerable amount of soiling and the patch colors didn't fade or blead.
The patch was on a early 50's Rawlings. I don't know if the fabrics used & coloring methods are consistant through the 100 years of patches.

Maybe Stockbuddy could shed a little more light here.

Jerry, I've had pretty good luck using rubbing alchohol and "daubing" it on the patch with cotton ball, not rubbing across the patch. This has worked well where oil and some grime have settled in. Not perfect but you might experiment with some less valuable gloves to see how it works for you.

Thanks for the tips! I'll give these methods a try on some beaters first before sweating with the real deal. The patch I'm considering is from the 20's-30's, if that matters at all. Much appreciated...

I've had luck with a little rubbing alcohol as well - a little goes a long way! It does a good job cleaning the grime and dirt out but will dry out the patch a little as well.

There is a a guy on ebay that always seems to clean ink up real good so i asked him how he did it and his reply was fabric paint.