How long does a baseball glove last?

How long does a baseball glove last? is one of the most searched questions on many search engines. Although different brands of gloves and different types may last longer than others, there are a couple of ways to evaluate how long a baseball glove will last

Content Inside

Understand the impact of Glove Quality

It is essential to understand that glove quality has a huge influence on the lifespan of your baseball glove. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. If buy a cheap baseball glove, it’s more likely to wear out sooner. However, if you invest in a high-quality glove, you’ll be able to use it for multiple seasons.

Your Gloves Only Last For As Long As You Take Care of Them

The life span of your gloves also depends on how well you take care of them. If, for example, you do not keep them clean, the lifespan is more likely to be short. Oiling them (as discussed below) is also an integral part of ensuring that the gloves are in good condition for seasons.

Based on the above factors, How should you take care of your glove?

How Should I Take Care of My Baseball Glove?

There are two ways to extend the life of your baseball glove. These tips include:

Use Baseball Oil Frequently to keep the leather soft and broken in

Baseball gloves and especially leather baseball gloves can be sensitive to many things.

During hot summer days, the leather in your baseball glove starts to dry out an d become more rigid. This makes the leather weaker and more likely to crack. One way to avoid this is to make sure the baseball glove is properly broken in. If you live in drier areas, you should ensure that you use baseball oil frequently to keep the leather soft and supple.

How often should you oil your gloves?

It depends on how hot/dry your location is.

If you live in a drier place, you should ensure that you oil your gloves maybe once a week. Pundits recommend oiling after a week of playing baseball. If you live in other places, you should ensure that you oil the gloves at least once every month.

It also depends on how often you use your baseball gloves.

You should also oil your gloves depending on how often you use them. If, for example, its offseason, you should ensure the gloves are in a cool and dry place.

How should you oil your gloves?

While we cover more about this in our post on how to break in a baseball glove, we recommend buying a baseball oil like Leather therapy restorer. This baseball glove oil is specifically designed to help increase the lifetime of leather gloves.

While different players have different methods to apply baseball glove oil to their gloves, we particularly like the one displayed in the video below.

Is it important to take care of my baseball glove?

Of course!

Taking care of your baseball glove helps it last for multiple seasons.

Taking care of your baseball gloves is one of the easiest ways of ensuring that your baseball gloves last longer. In professional leagues, professionals who take care of their gloves use the same gloves for four or more seasons.

On the other hand, if you fail to clean and oil your baseball gloves, it is impossible to play with them for more than one season.

Taking care of your baseball glove helps keep it comfortable to wear

Second, taking care of your gloves ensures that they are comfortable to play with them during tournaments. One of the reasons why many gloves in baseball are uncomfortable to use is players neglect taking care of their baseball glove.

Helps your love for the sport

In the professional leagues, players show their love for the game in different ways. One of these ways is by appearing with a clean and attractive baseball glove.

How should you clean your baseball glove after each game?

Just like other sports equipment, keeping your baseball glove clean is an essential part of determining how long it will last. As you play baseball, of course your glove will get dirty. But, it’s important that after every game you try to clean off as much of the dirt and muck as you can.

There are no set guidelines on how to clean your baseball gloves. However, there are different DIY approaches to ensuring that your baseball glove is clean after practice and games. In order to clean your glove effectively, you should put the following factors into consideration.

Any cleaning approach should not affect the glove’s color. Avoid using bleaching detergents.
Do not cleaning machines. They’re often unnecessarily rough and can damage your baseball glove permanently.

When should you replace your baseball glove?

Some of the pointers that you need to replace your baseball gloves include the following.

If you start losing easy to catch baseballs during a game

First, and most importantly, if you start losing easy to catch baseballs during the match and suspect it’s your baseball glove, it is time to buy another glove.

If the pocket in your baseball glove is so worn out that it’s hard to catch, it’s probably a sign that your baseball glove needs to be replaced.

Efficiency in baseball is critical, and when you fail to achieve that with your glove, it is time to buy another glove. It is, however, essential to evaluate whether missing the balls was your mistake or due to the glove.

You find it hard to release the ball during a game

Second, if you find it hard to release the ball easily during the baseball match, it is time to buy another baseball glove. Experts point that more than 70% of all release mistakes are related to having an old glove.

If your fingers are uncomfortable in your current baseball glove

Thirdly,if your fingers feel uncomfortable, you should consider investing in another glove. Your comfort in baseball matches and practice sessions is critical.

If you find your fingers uncomfortable in your baseball glove, you should check whether the laces are too tight or not.

If they are too tight, you should loosen them. If, even with loose laces, you still feel uncomfortable in your baseball glove – it’s an indication you need a new one.

Want to switch to a different position

Finally, you may opt to change your glove if you want to make a shift in your playing position. It’s well known that not all gloves are ideal for all playing positions.

If you do not decide on changing your glove, you may end up making numerous technical mistakes during the games.

Worried about buying a baseball glove that only lasts 1 season? Check out our top picks – guaranteed to last you for years!

David

My name is David Farnum and I’ve been a Little League Coach in my community for the past 7 years. With 2 boys playing baseball and 1 girl playing softball, most weekends I can be found near a baseball diamond.