Champion Sports Fielder’s Glove (14.5-Inch)

Buying Guide

Amazon.com Baseball and Softball Glove Guide
Playing the Field
Baseball and softball gloves are specially designed to suit the needs of a given field position, with each style of glove boasting unique features to improve a player’s performance at his or her position. The following is a brief summary of each glove’s characteristics:

• Catcher: No finger channels, with heavy palm padding and overall reinforcements to reduce the sting of repeatedly catching pitchers’ throws
• First Base: Also lacks finger channels, but with less padding that a catcher’s mitt, with added length to help catch infield throws and shallow pocket, enabling quick ball retrieval
• Infield: Five-fingered glove has shallow pocket for fast ball retrieval, with 9- to 10-inch youth sizes and 10.5- to 11.5-inch adult sizes, and softball infield gloves having a deeper pocket to accept the larger ball
  
  • Second base players require smaller gloves to balance control with the need to make quick throws
  • Shortstops use a mid-sized glove for ground balls and quick throws
  • Third base players need a larger glove for maximum catching power
• Outfield: Glove is longer to provide extended reach, with a deep pocket to handle high-lofting balls, and sizes range from 12 inches and up for adults and 11 inches for youth players
• Softball Gloves: The characteristics, by position, of softball gloves are typically similar to their baseball counterparts, with softball gloves having more length and deeper pockets to handle the larger ball

Anatomy of a Glove
Gloves are designed to perform a relatively simple task–catch a ball. The quality of materials and craftsmanship that can go into a building a glove, however, can be surprising. Below is an overview of a glove’s components and how each helps optimize your defensive game: