How To: Properly break in a baseball glove

This video gives you four steps on how to properly break into a baseball glove. If a glove isn’t correctly broken into, it may affect a player’s performance. The first step is to condition the leather, softening it by adding either glove oil or cream. Remove any excess oil with a paper towel. Make sure to repeat this step throughout the year. The second step is shaping your glove by placing a ball where you would normally hold a baseball and then tying two large bands around the glove in an X shape. Then place your glove in a bag and let it sit out overnight in room temperature to allow the oil to be completely absorbed and for your glove to shape. The third step to start shaping your glove. Put on your glove and hit the interior with a mallet, focusing the mallet where the ball would go. Then repeat step two and let your glove sit overnight. For the last step, play catch with your glove concentrating on catching the ball with the pocket. Continue using the mallet until your glove feels comfortable.