How to clean and care for a baseball glove, and when to relace it instead of replacing it

The in-season routine (one minute)

1. Knock out the dirt. A stiff brush or a dry cloth on the palm and the web after a game. Infield dirt dries leather.
2. Damp cloth for mud. Barely damp, water only. No soap unless it is a leather cleaner the maker lists.
3. Dry it at room temperature. Not on a heater, not in the sun, not in the car. BaseballMonkey's glove guides are explicit that heat dries leather and makes laces brittle.
4. Ball in the pocket. Every time it goes in the bag, so the pocket stays a pocket and does not fold flat under the cleats.
5. Check the laces. Ten seconds: pull each web lace. A fraying one gets replaced before it snaps mid-game.

The end-of-season clean

• Brush everything, including inside the finger stalls.
• Wipe the whole glove with a damp cloth; let it dry a day.
• One thin coat of the maker's conditioner, rubbed in with a cloth, excess wiped off. Pay attention to the laces and the crease.
• Retie the wrist lace if it has loosened.
• Ball in the pocket, wrap it, and put it somewhere indoors.

Conditioner: once a season, and the maker's own

The advice from the retailer guides is consistent: use only the conditioner the glove maker recommends, apply a light coat, and never Vaseline, petroleum jelly, olive oil, mink oil or linseed oil. Over-oiling is the fastest way to turn a good youth glove into a heavy, floppy one. Once at break-in and once at the end of the season is enough for a glove that gets normal care. Rawlings sells a conditioner for its own leather; use the equivalent for other brands.

Storage

Between seasons: clean, condition, ball in the pocket, wrap, closet shelf. Not the bottom of the bag under cleats, not a plastic tub in the garage. A glove stored well comes out in March closed the way it went in; a glove stored flat comes out with a fold in the wrong place and a month of break-in to undo it.

Relace or replace?

The economics: a Rawlings lace pack is four 72-inch laces, enough for a full web and then some. A youth glove with good leather and one snapped lace is a relace, not a purchase. A starter glove worth less than the lace pack is not.

The three things to own