How to Break In and Care for a Baseball Glove
Posted by Burghardt Sporting Goods on Jul 31st 2026
How to Break In and Care for a Baseball Glove (and When to Relace It)
A good glove can last years if you break it in right and treat the leather with a little care.
We have sold a lot of gloves off our Wall of Gloves over the years, and the question we hear most after "what size" is "how do I break it in without wrecking it." Fair question. A new glove is stiff on purpose, and the goal is to shape a pocket that closes the way you want while keeping the leather strong. Here is how we tell folks to do it in New Berlin.
Break it in the slow, safe way
The best break-in method is also the least dramatic: play catch with it. To shape a pocket that lasts, work through these three steps and repeat until the glove closes easily.
Play catch, every day
Twenty minutes of catch a day for a week or two forms a natural pocket that fits your hand and your position. There is no true shortcut for this part.
Work the hinge points
Use a wooden glove mallet to pound the pocket, the heel, and the spot above the wrist where the glove folds shut. That creates clean break points so the glove closes where you want it to.
Wrap it overnight
Set a ball in the pocket, fold the glove around it, wrap it with a couple of wide rubber bands or a belt, and leave it overnight. Repeat the whole routine until it feels game-ready.
Skip the shortcuts you have heard about
Do not bake a glove in the oven, run it through the microwave, or soak it in a bucket of water. Heat and heavy water dry the leather out, break down the laces, and take years off the life of the glove. Slow and steady wins here.
Condition the leather, but do not drown it
Leather is skin, and it wants a light drink now and then, not a flood. A little conditioner keeps the glove supple so it flexes instead of cracking. Here is the short version of what works and what backfires.
Do
- Use a dime-sized amount on a clean cloth.
- Rub a thin, even coat over the whole glove.
- Let it soak in about a half hour, then wipe off the excess.
- Reach for a purpose-made glove conditioner.
- Condition just a few times a season.
Skip
- Piling on oil until the glove is heavy and floppy.
- Heavy household oils that over-soften the leather.
- Conditioning every week out of habit.
- Anything that darkens the leather more than you want.
Too much oil makes a glove heavy and floppy. If you are ever unsure what to put on a specific glove, bring it in and we will point you to the right stuff.
Store it so it survives the off-season
How you put a glove away matters as much as how you use it. A little care at the end of the season means a ready glove when the first practice rolls around.
Off-season storage checklist
- Tuck a ball in the pocket and close the glove around it.
- Store it somewhere cool and dry, never a hot trunk or damp basement.
- Knock the dirt off after games and let it air out if it got wet.
Know when it is time to relace
Even a well-loved glove wears out where it works hardest. Frayed laces around the web, a heel that has gone loose, or a pocket that will not hold its shape are all signs the lacing is done, not the glove. A relace brings a favorite glove back to life for a lot less than replacing it, and it saves you from breaking in a new one from scratch.
That is a job we handle in house. Bring your glove to Burghardt and our team can relace and recondition it so it plays like it should. And when a glove really is past saving, we have a whole Wall of Gloves to help you find the next one, in the size and web that fit your position.
Stop in and see us
Bring your glove for a relace, or find a new one at Burghardt Sporting Goods in New Berlin.
15333 W National Avenue, New Berlin, WI 53151
Phone: (262) 790-1170
Treat a glove right and it becomes the one you reach for season after season. When you love baseball like we do, you can't beat Burghardt!