One of life’s greatest lessons is learning how to break in a baseball glove. The secrets to conditioning a glove are passed along to little leaguers like an heirloom watch is entrusted to a new generation.
This was a time-honored tradition in my family. Each winter, come later October or early November, when the fallen leaves had been raked up and the air smelled like smoking chimneys and snow, my dad would take me into the garage.
With a few old stained rags, a secret batch of ingredients and our elbow grease, we would set to work breaking in a new glove. By April, the glove would be ready for a game of catch.
Everybody’s dad probably has their secret formula for the homespun compounds, ointments and techniques used to break in a baseball glove. Regardless of the method used, the end always justified the means. A broken-in baseball glove means that is has been tenderly softened up, creating comfort and flexibility. The glove, now soft and supple, also has a worked-in pocket ready to catch fly balls and tag runners.
There are so-called experts who will argue that your dad’s baseball glove alchemy was all hocus-pocus....