Baseball Mitt

Baseball Mitts

The baseball mitt is actually separate from the baseball glove. Much like a mitten and a glove, a glove has separate coverings for each finger, where a mitt has only one covering for all four fingers. There are three specialized kinds of gloves and two kinds of mitts, each one for a specific purpose on the team. The catcher uses a thick catcher’s mitt, specially padded to absorb the devastating, dead-on impact, of a pitch thrown at over seventy miles an hour. The first baseman uses a wide first baseman’s mitt for scooping the ball, as a grounder is often likely to come to his base. The second baseman, shortstop and third baseman all use small infielder’s gloves that let them catch the ball easily and quickly pick it up and throw it to where it needs to be. The outfielders each use a long outfielder’s glove that allows them to better catch the ball out of the air. Finally, the pitcher uses a rounded pitcher’s mitt that forms a pocket where he can hide his grip on the ball.

Baseball Mitt History

Baseball mitts have not changed too much over the past hundred years. There isn’t much one can do to alter the design of an oversized leather glove. They didn’t originally have the “webbing” between finger and thumb that they do now, but other than some alterations to the shape, the design is largely the same. Baseball gloves were first introduced in the 1870’s, but did not come into play commonly until 1890, because most players thought that wearing a glove was “sissy,” and cheapened the sport. Originally, there was only one kind of baseball glove used by everyone on the team, and they were worn on both hands, but this was changed when it became too difficult to throw the ball. The webbed pocket was created by the Rawlings company in the 1920’s to make it easier to catch the ball, and over time the design of the glove evolved to fit the needs of the various players.

Custom Baseball Mitts

Both the Rawlings company and Wilson Sporting Goods offer customers the opportunity to customize their gloves. Rawlings has a premium “make your own glove,” line of gloves for better customization, and Wilson allows people to pick an embroidered message for their glove. The Rawlings option is more comprehensive, however it is also much more expensive, running as much as three hundred and fifty dollars, while the Wilson program apparently costs no more than the standard glove.