You’re probably wondering what’s the best way to break in your first baseman glove. Gloves like the Rawlings First Base Mitt and the Wilson A2000 first base glove can break a sweat when trying to break them in. Yeah, it can be a little tricky, but if you find the right spots it will be a piece of cake!
Well, I’m here to tell you some of the most important methods and the spots that will easily break in your glove and thus enabling it to be game ready.
Let’s dive into it
How To Break In a First Base Mitt
Focus On ‘PHP’
No this is not some big term that is used by a secret society in the baseball community! It’s actually something that you have to focus on when breaking in a First Baseman Glove. These are Palm, Heel, and the Pocket. Focusing on these areas of the gloves will make the breaking-in smooth but also will give you so much more freedom to work with when closing and opening the glove.
Use A Mallet or Dumbell
Now don’t use those heavy dumbbells that you get. The one with the least amount of weight is something best to work with, somewhere around 5 pounds should be good enough to work with. What you’re gonna do basically is just keep smashing the pocket and palm area rapidly what this does is, it basically loosens up the leather fibers, thus forming a pocket really easily.
Get The Ball In The Glove
This is another method to break in your new first baseman mitts. No no this isn’t some training thing, you actually have to get the ball right inside the glove so that you can form the shape of the pocket. There are two methods with which you could do this.
The first method involves you taking the ball simply and placing it into the glove and trying to beat it around the surrounding areas to get it to loosen up and form the perfect pocket around the ball.
The second method is generally using rubber bands to secure the glove around the ball, leaving it for a few days, and then getting a pocket perfectly formed. It’s most of the time this method is used. But do be sure when using rubber bands, nothing harms the leather.
Break The Top Part Of The Web
Well, it’s very obvious that we have been focusing on the palm heel and pocket of the first baseman’s glove. But sometimes even the top of the glove can feel a little ridged. So what you can do is try and try run them together, not like that they can physically touch but sort of flex the top part of the glove just above the web. This action of flexing and rubbing them together will make it super easier to break and even open and close properly.
Use a Leather Conditioner
Not the brightest of ideas but another quick and easy way to try and loosen up your first baseman glove is by using a leather conditioner. It’s quite the easiest and most efficient way to loosen up the leather fibers in a glove. A lot of brands out there sell leather conditioners so you can buy them, be sure to buy ones that are specifically made for leather.
Play Catch
Breaking in a first base mitt is tricky, the first baseman gloves tend to be super sturdy because of all the leather with which they are made the next way to try and loosen up everything is by playing catch. Now it may sound super simple but this really the most utilized method, this method serves the purpose of practice as well as giving you the most best and flexible baseball gloves out there. Doing this for a few couple of rounds will make your 1st baseman gloves ready in no time!
Conclusion
Well, there you have it! The easiest and simplest ways to try and break in your glove perfectly, some people prefer using the leather conditioner and going straight in. But, since you are working with first baseman mitts, they traditionally have a good enough pocket to capture all those ground balls, so I’d best suggest that you try and use these methods to get a perfect pocket and the perfect glove.
