Shaping a glove

[Hrking4675]

Ok so just out of curiosity from sifting through ebay looking at used high end gloves, I was wondering how people can use their gloves with a violently curved inward thumb and pinky for baseball. More specifically for outfield. As far as functionality of a glove in the outfield, wouldnt you want to leave the fingers as long as possible? Thats what I do. Even curl them slightly outward. I know it is all personal preference, but I have never bought or even tried on someones glove broken in this way that seemed like it helped the functionality of the glove.

[Cowboy7130]

I think the idea behind the concave pocket is to "cradle" the ball as it is received. Whether it actually helps to have the curved outer fingers or not is probably a matter of debate, but like you, I would want the pocket to be as wide as possible when I stretch my glove out for a difficult snag. A slight outward curve would facilitate the wider pocket, but would it mean a slower "snap" shut on the ball?

The Louisville Slugger TPX Pro Flare has the curve you are talking about. Curiously, the Pro Flare only comes in infield model sizes. I would be interested in hearing reviews from top players on this innovation. http://www.slugger.com/baseball/fieldin ... l1175.html

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My coworker has season Dodger tickets on the third base line. I've noticed the infielders spend quite a bit of time between plays shaping their gloves by curling the fingers in.

[Hrking4675]

Well for the infield, its one thing. But outfield, Ive never seen it on a pro's glove. As a matter of fact, the pro flares do come in 2 OF patterns at Ballgloves.com. Ive seen the infield ones, but I feel like its too severe and forced. I like doing it with just a regular glove. Apparantly a ton of pros do use the pro flares in the middle infield though.

[Mike**Mize]

Back to Cowboy's comments. TPX does make an outfielder's PRO FLARE model. But, rather than an inward flare, the thumb and pinkie go slightly outward.
I almost exclusively collect pre 1950 gloves but from time to time I like to pick up a brand spanking new one used by a favorite player. A few weeks ago I bought a single post web 12 3/4's" TPX PRO Flare as close to the one used by Melky Cabrera as I could find. Great outfielders glove. The flared thumb and pinkie are pretty subtle. It's not like they take a right angle away from the pocket. Basically none of my routine conditioning techniques worked at all on this glove and I wound up getting it a little damp and playing a lot of catch with it. That and some lanoline seem to have done the trick. Speaking of Melky, he does a thing with his glove between pitches where he folds the fingers from the top into the center of the pocket. He may be trying to widen the pocket with this manuver and give it some counter flex against the narrow scoop that a glove like his tends to have.

[mudman]

If you ever watched Keith Hernandez between pitches, he always would take his mitt and really bend the finger portion so that it had a very defined curve to it. I am thinking it made it better to scoop balls in the dirt, and get grounders. He was about the best first baseman I had the pleasure to see. So what I am getting at is I really guess it is a infield thing.

[Number9]

I never played at a high level, but I would curve the tips of all fingers in towards the palm no matter what position I was playing. For me, it was a way to really widen and enlarge the pocket. If the glove was so broken in that I could open it that far without curving it, it was too floppy for my taste.