Gio Turi

November 20, 2003

ITDPT 303

The History and Making of Baseball gloves

Baseball has its roots from British stick-ball games called rounders. Baseball dates back to Revolutionary War times. Different versions of the game were played until 1845, when the New York Knickerbocker Club’s edition of baseball was accepted (Voight, 1987, p. 11). At this time, baseball players didn’t wear gloves because you were considered a wimp. This report will help take a look into the introduction and the evolution of the glove. It will show how advancements of technology of the glove and the process of how to make a glove.

1870 FINGERLESS
Photo by National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.

History of Baseball Glove

In 1869, Doug Allison, a catcher for the Cincinnati Red Stockings, asked a saddle maker to develop a mitt (Soyer 2001, p. 2). In 1875, Charles Waite of St. Louis also wore a mitt (Soyer 2001, p. 2). Both guys received ridicule. Baseball gloves weren’t going to be accepted for play until the end of the 1870’s (Soyer 2001, p. 2). Players having gloves in the 1890’s was still socially risky says Voight.

The first types of gloves used in the 1870-1880’s looked like batting gloves with the fingers cut out. In the mid 1880’s, Buck Ewing, a catcher for the New York giants, became the first to use a pillow-type catcher’s mitt (Soyer 2001, p. 2). By the 1890’s the gloves started resembling the traditional glove of today (“About Baseball Gloves”). In the 1920’s, the biggest improvement to a glove took place when the web between the thumb and the first finger. A later improvement to a glove would be bigger webs and the fingers of the glove would be laced together. These adjustments were made form the 1920’s thru the end of the 1930’s (Voight 1987). In the 1940’s, the firstbase gloves were invented. It used a double webbed pocket trap that allowed first basemen to catch balls and lessened the shock. Rapid exploration of the webbed pocket as allowed most balls to be caught in the web instead of the pocket. As the years go on, the advancements in the glove do too. The style of baseball gloves of the early to mid 1900’s, hasn’t changed much compared today. The big thing that has changed is the technology. The leather is softer, allowing players to buy and use a baseball glove in the same day. With gloves in the past, you needed to break them in. Gloves come with different style baskets for different positions. The glove is thinner for lighter and easier use. Understanding the style of glove that there is today, can help look into the process in making a baseball glove.

http://www.baseballgloves.com/aboutgloves/index.html

Above: A glove from the 1910's -1920's. Photo courtesy of Sports Artifacts

Glove Making Process

The process begins with the hides being inspected for color and quality. Within different leather hides, there are different quality levels of leather. The parts of a glove are specified by the quality level. The four parts of the glove (the shell, web, padding and lining) will be matched up with the leather that is best qualified. While the leather is being inspected, patterns are being drawn and cut for each component of the glove. After being cut, corrections will be made to the design. After this process, their are different operations that can be followed. One way of using the templates is to make steel clicker dies. Each section calls for a separate die, which is laid out on the leather hide (Glove Making). The large clicker machine will exert a hammer force to the die which will stamp out the leather part used to make the glove (Glove Making). Steel dies are also used to put on trademarks and other information that needs to be put on the glove. Another operation would be to manually cut the leather from the templates. The leather parts are thinned on what is called a splitting machine (Seawel). Each part of the glove has a predetermined thickness (Seawel). Then certain parts of the glove will imprinted with the trademark on an embossing machine. It is now time to sew the parts of the glove together. The shell of the glove will be sewn together inside and out using welting material. Welting provides rigidity and it hides the stitching (Seawel). The shell is made up of the palm, the fingers, and the thumb. The glove will be put together by sewing the back of the shell to the palm together. When this process is done, it is time for more inspections. If it passes inspection, it will be time to turn the glove inside out. The glove will be put on an aluminum hot hand. This operation acts like an iron on clothing (Seawel). This is when the glove will start to get its shape. The lining will be inserted next. This is the part of the glove where you put your hands in. It pieces together the back and the palm of the glove. The web is sewn together in the final procedure of putting the shell together. Now it is time to add the padding to inside of the glove. The last step in making the glove will be to lace it all together. Some additive procedures to a glove will give it its shape. It will be put back on a hot hand. This will give its final shape before it is sent to the stores.

Making a glove is very skilled labor. Seawel says that is takes around two to three hours of labor in a glove, and that it can take up to six months at cutting and sewing ball gloves together.

lRawlings is one of only two U.S. baseball glove manufacturers. It takes 16 to 20 pieces of cowhide to make a glove. PHOTO BY JOHN STEWART/OZARK STOCK

Reference

Voight, D. Q. (1987). Baseball An Illustrated History. The Pennsylvania State University Press.

(n.d.) Glove Making. Retrieved November 2, 2003. http://www.customglove.com/extras_glovemaking.html

(n.d.) About Baseball Gloves. Retrieved November 2, 2003, http://www.baseballgloves.com/aboutgloves/index.html

Seawel, M. (2003). How A Ball Glove Is Made.

Soyer, F. (2001) Playing the Field. Retrieved November 2, 2003. http://popularmechanics.com/outdoors/outdoors/201/5/playing_the_field/print.phtml