From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Early baseball was a game played without gloves. During the slow transition
to gloves, a player who continued to play without one was called a barehanded
catcher. This did not refer to the position of Catcher, but
rather to the practice of catching with bare hands. The earliest glove was not
webbed and not particularly well suited for catching, but was used more to bat
a ball to the ground so that it could be picked up. No doubt this lack of functionality
contributed to the early resistance to the glove.
An 1885 glove patent.
One of the first players believed to use a baseball glove was Doug
Allison, a catcher for the Cincinnati Red Stockings, in 1870, due to
an injured left hand. The first documented story of glove use concerns Charles
Waitt, a St. Louis outfielder/first baseman who in 1875 donned a pair of
flesh-colored gloves. While glove usage was not accepted by all players at
first, being considered "sissy" by many, it slowly caught on as more
and more players began using different forms of gloves. "We used no
mattress on our hands, No cage upon our face; We stood right up and caught the
ball, With courage and with grace." That was the typical reaction from the
"old-time" players when the gloves were first introduced.
Many early baseball gloves were simple leather gloves with the fingertips
cut off, supposedly to allow for the same control of a bare hand, but with
extra padding. The adoption of the baseball glove by baseball star Albert
Spalding when he began playing first base influenced more infielders to
begin using gloves. By the mid 1890s, it was the norm for players to wear
gloves in the field. It was an ironic fate for Spalding, as he once was
skeptical to don the new glove in baseball, but then rose to the occasion and
did it. He afterwards created the sporting goods empire known as Spalding.
In 1920, Bill Doak,
a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, suggested that a web be
placed between the first finger and the thumb in order to create a pocket. This
design soon became the standard for baseball gloves.
Since their beginnings, baseball gloves have grown. While catching in baseball
had always been two handed, eventually, gloves grew to a size that made it
easier to catch the ball in the webbing of the glove, and use the off-hand to
keep it from falling out. A glove is typically worn on the non-dominant hand,
leaving the dominant hand for throwing the ball; for example, a right-handed
player would wear a glove on the left hand. By convention, the type of glove
that fits on the left hand is called a "right-handed" or
"RH" glove.
The shape and size of the baseball glove is governed by official baseball
rules; Section 1.00, Objectives of the Game, defines limits of catchers, first
basemans and fielders glove in parts 1.12, 1.13 and 1.14.
The baseball glove has come a long way in over the past century. Today, gloves
are made more precisely and more efficiently for baseball players.
Manufacturers have created different types of gloves to suit different types of
people. Also, they have started personalizing gloves for certain players to
increase exposure on national television. Rawlings sponsors more than 50% of
the current MLB Players. It is because of this dedication to gloves that the
MLB has rewarded Rawlings with the "annual Rawlings Gold Glove Award,
which has been presented to players for fielding excellence since 1957."
Most players choose which glove manufacturer they will sign with when they
are in the minor leagues, and stay with them for their entire career. Many
players will switch glove companies for the right price. Most glove companies
will pay in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for high-caliber players to
endorse their gloves.Pitchers usually get the highest contracts for gloves
because their glove is shown on television more frequently than other gloves.
One of the biggest endorsers of gloves was Roger Clemens, who won seven Cy
Young Awards (awarded to best pitcher in each baseball league). His Cy Young
Awards were won with three different glove companies.
There are still many advancements coming in the age of the baseball glove.
Even today,
Even though there have been many advancements in the design and creation of
the baseball glove, the greatest came in the invention of the catchers mitt. Its
very understandable that the catchers mitt led the way for development because
no other glove is used as much in a game as the catchers mitt. A University of
Wake Forest studied demonstrated, through 39 minor-league players, that even
though todays catchers mitts are state-of-the-art, they still do not offer
enough protection from long term injury to the hand and wrist
