How to Stiffen up a Baseball Glove? Answer Revealed

Aren’t your years-old baseball gloves getting loose and floppy? If so, then I bet it must be quite some time. Don’t go and replace your baseball gloves as they are all loosened. Instead, learn how to stiffen up a baseball glove.

How come a baseball player performs on the field without a snug-fit glove? Not possible. Right? Additionally, you can’t always spend money on a new pair of gloves. So, tips and tricks for stiffening baseball gloves are surely going to help you.

Do you know?

To put it simply, leather baseball gloves can get loose and floppy, so consider stiffening them. You can stiffen up the baseball gloves by using a glove conditioner and tightening the laces.

Using the right stiffening method can transform the condition of your baseball gloves completely. On the other hand, doing the stiffening with the wrong method can crack the gloves which won’t allow your gloves to live long.

Let’s get straight into the topic and get to know how to stiffen up a baseball glove.

Is it Necessary to Stiffen a Baseball Glove?

Why do I need to stiff my glove? If tightening the glove is important then why is breaking in gloves a crucial step? You must be wondering if stiffening of gloves is necessary then the whole point of breaking in the gloves will be useless. We get you here.

Pro Tip

Let’s understand this. When you buy a new pair of gloves, you must break in to make them usable. Otherwise, the extreme stiffness and hardness of the gloves won’t let you get the best results. If you already didn’t know how to break in a stiff baseball glove, then this guide is going to help you a lot.

Let’s talk about the stiffening of baseball gloves. After constantly using baseball gloves, the material gets softer and floppy which makes them short-lived. Moreover, the floppy baseball gloves won’t have a perfect grip while wearing them.

In addition to that, loose baseball gloves will keep falling off and won’t provide enough protection for your hand. So, stiffening gloves is surely a great idea.

Are you thinking that stiffening will make your gloves brand new and you would never have to buy a new pair of shoes? Let me break your bubble here. The stiffening of gloves will only help them live a bit longer.

How to Stiffen up a Baseball Glove?

You might be thinking that glove stiffening is a complex and hectic process. But let me tell you that it’s not. Also, you’re not going to need any extra tools. All you need is a non-toxic glove conditioner. That’s all.

Let me share my story with you all. Back in my early baseball days, one of my friends wore my gloves, he got disappointed with the floppiness and grip of my gloves. I got extremely embarrassed and then he suggested that I should get my baseball gloves stiff.

How to Stiffen up a Baseball Glove? - How to stiffen up a baseball glove

I thought that it was going to be a difficult procedure. But when he explained how to stiffen up a baseball glove, I did it with no problem. So, read this guide and make your gloves long-lasting.

Right Method To Stiffen Up a Baseball Glove

Let’s get straight into the comprehensive guide on how to stiffen up a baseball glove.

Step 1: Clean Baseball Gloves

The first thing you should be doing is cleaning your dirty baseball gloves. Get two soft pieces of fabric. Now, dip one fabric into the soapy water and wipe off all the dirt from the surface of the gloves.

After that, rub the gloves with a dry soft cloth to wipe all the soap. Now air dries the gloves on a flat surface.

Step 2: Conditioning of Baseball Gloves

Conditioning baseball gloves is one of the most important steps to do. Proper conditioning of gloves can keep them in good shape for a longer time. Not to forget that applying gloves with the wrong method can give cracks and damage to the material.

For the best conditioning of the gloves, you need a premium quality conditioner for leather gloves. Apply the conditioner on the pocket of the glove and then on the fingers. Also, make sure you’re applying the conditioner evenly.

After even application of the conditioner, keep the gloves aside for at least 2 days. By doing this, the conditioner will completely absorb the material of the gloves.

Step 3: Tighten the Laces of the Gloves

Tightening the laces of gloves is the last yet essential step you should not skip. Additionally, you don’t need any equipment to tighten the laces as it’s done by hand. Let’s see how tightening should be done correctly.

First of all, untie all the knots and then loosened the laces of the web. Now, you need to tighten the laces by pulling them together. You can do tightening of web laces according to your preferred tightness.

Now wear the gloves and check if they are snugly fit or not. If not, then you can repeat the process. After web tightening, you should tighten the finger and cut off extra laces as well.

Other Methods

Let’s get straight to the point. You can’t transform your almost-dead gloves into a brand by just stiffening them. Yes, that’s true. Didn’t expect too much from the stiffening method. If your baseball leather gloves are too old, you must buy new ones for better performance. Young players don’t have enough knowledge on how to stiffen up a baseball glove, so they keep trying new methods.

Most of the players don’t like changing their gear too often so they just follow random hacks which can do irreversible damage to the material. However, these hacks can work sometimes but mostly they don’t. You can always try different hacks or methods if your gloves are no longer useful.

Other Methods - How to stiffen up a baseball glove

Glue Application: One such method is using glue on gloves. Glue can be used on gloves to make them stiffer and tight. Keep in mind that glue can make the gloves messy and shorten their lifespan as well.
Spraying Water: Another method of glove stiffening is spraying water on the leather. Water can make the leather stiffer once dries off. Nevertheless, the water content can cause cracking of the leather.

Frequently Asked Questions

If your baseball gloves are no more giving the same performance as they used to, then it’s time to replace them. Also, if your gloves are beaten up, you must replace them right.

Reshaping gloves means restoring the damaged shape of gloves. While stiffening means tightening the floppy and loose gloves to make them a snug fit.

Your baseball gloves must not be too tight and too loose while wearing them. You can break in the glove to eliminate all the stiffness of the gloves. Other than that, frequent use of gloves can make them loose which can be avoided by using the above-mentioned stiffening method.

There are many methods to break in a baseball glove. One of the best methods to break in stiff baseball gloves is catching the balls with them. Also, you can use hot water on stiff areas to make them softer and more usable.

Yes, steaming a baseball is completely fine and a lot of players practice this method to soften them. Keep in mind that steaming can affect the durability of the gloves.

Conclusion

Indeed, baseball gloves are one of the most crucial pieces of equipment for players. So, they should be snug fit and help to perform better. Frequent use of gloves can make them floppy and extremely loose. It’s better to tighten the laces and stiffen up the material to keep them long-lasting.

A lot of young players don’t know how to stiffen up a baseball glove. That’s why I compiled this detailed guide to make things easier for every young player out there.