Glove love: Breaking in a new one

Player preference plays a big role in preparing a glove for play, because the glove is such a personal item.

"You don't put your hand in somebody else's glove. It's like wearing someone else's underwear," said Jerry Hardin, a hitting coach with the Anchorage Glacier Pilots.

Hardin, 58, has broken in his share of gloves over the years and said the lanolin in shaving cream is the best for softening the leather, but there are players who avoid the foam.

Anchorage Bucs shortstop Logan Davis said the appearance of his glove is a top priority and shaving cream darkens the leather too much. One of the first things he does when he gets a new glove is flare out the sides, bending the tip of the pinky-finger and thumb outward, even though it adds no function in the field.

"It just looks good," he said. "My glove is my best friend. I love breaking in new gloves."

New gloves are sometimes tough to break in because they are manufactured with a bad fold, but most new gloves are easier to break in than they used to be, Hardin said.

"Most of these gloves today, you play with a couple weeks and they're good to go," he said. "Some of the old Wilson catcher's gloves would take two years to break in."

Glacier Pilots manager Yogi Cox said when he was a kid, he soaked his catcher's mitt in water for 12 hours, let it dry, and then rubbed in shaving cream until it smelled really good. Then he set the glove on the floor and pounded the inside of the pocket with the end of a bat until the pocket was formed.

South infielder Andy Schafer likes to form a pocket by repeatedly throwing a ball into the glove. He gets his new gloves in the winter and spends about six months breaking them in without the use of shaving cream or oils.

"Just use it a lot, take care of it, don't let it get smooshed," Schafer said.

Pilots catcher Maxx Garrett takes a similar approach to his mitt, preferring to, "Break it in with a good, old catch."

Garrett said players who break in their gloves with more extreme methods usually do so because they like a floppier glove they can squeeze shut.

"With catching, I don't even squeeze the glove," he said.

Most infielders prefer not to close their gloves much, because they need to get the ball out quickly, said Hardin. A nice, round pocket with a firm heal is ideal.

Ballplayers who play multiple positions often have different gloves for each position, using bigger gloves when they play at first base or in the outfield, said Hardin.

Pilots shortstop Dustin Torchio said a lot of kids have a tendency to like the big gloves, but he recommends a small glove for little leaguers, one they can handle easily and get comfortable with.

Torchio is comfortable with his glove when he can make a backhanded play on the ball without using both hands.

"When it just kind of stays in there on its own," he said.

Bucs second baseman Jake Valdez beats the heel of a new glove with a bat to loosen up the leather and then puts it under his mattress when he sleeps, and he always keeps a backup in case the webbing or leather strings break.

"If you play on dirt a lot and are diving, they'll break," said Bucs shortstop Ty Afenir.

South pitcher Brad Butcher pays close attention to the webbing in his glove. He stretches the webbing with what he calls the gator grip, leaving the glove's index finger empty and putting two fingers in the glove's pinky finger. Butcher stops using the gator grip when the glove is broken in, and he's careful not to stretch the webbing out too much.

"Pitchers like to have the web closed up so nobody can see their pitches," he said.

The devotion to gloves isn't limited to baseball. Softball players are just as smitten with their fielding equipment of choice.

A few years ago, Andrea Story, an Anchorage Softball Association player, lost a bat bag with four expensive bats and her glove in it.

So what did the fliers she put up around the fields say? To paraphrase: Keep the bats -- but please return my glove.

Reach Jeremy Peters at jpeters@adn.com or 257-4335.