Baseball glove

The earliest glove was not webbed and not particularly well suited for catching but was used more to swat a ball to the ground so that it could be picked up.

[2] One of the first players believed to have used a baseball glove was Doug Allison, a catcher for the Cincinnati Red Stockings, in 1870, due to an injured left hand.

For the first two decades of professional baseball, these types of gloves were worn primarily by catchers, who sustained frequent hand injuries to such a point that duties for catching typically alternated each day at a time when field positions did not carry backups.

The catcher's mitt, a glove designed to be much larger than the hand and to cover it entirely, were offered for sale for the first time in 1890.

[9] 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.

Currently, Easton is "experimenting with combining leather and Kevlar (used in bullet-proof vests) in a new ultra-lightweight glove line".

Also, manufacturers are personalizing gloves for high-caliber players to help increase their exposure on national television.

Although there have been numerous advances in baseball glove design, the greatest arguably came with the advent of the catcher's mitt.

This is an improvement from youth and recreational gloves, which tend to feature palm pads and/or adjustable Velcro wrist straps.