How To Break In Mizuno Baseball Gloves

Breaking in a nice, new Mizuno glove can be hard work. Most gloves come with stiff, shiny and hard leather. While they may be pretty, their usefulness on the field is diminished considerably compared with a glove that is already broken in. When it comes to breaking Mizunos in, there are several ways to go about it. Some are expensive, some are free, some are controversial and some are even dangerous. Choosing the right option for you is going to depend on how much you want to spend and how fast you want the glove to be broken in.

Breaking It In

Step 1

Rub a generous amount of foam shaving cream all over the exterior of the glove. Pay special attention to the creases of the glove. After rubbing the cream completely in, rinse it off with running water to remove any excess slime. Place a baseball in the pocket of the glove and close the glove around the ball. Wrap a rubber band around the outside of the glove as tight as it will go, and store the glove in a warm place until it dries completely. This method may require several applications over a few days time.

Step 2

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, then turn the oven off. Place your glove in the oven on a cookie sheet and let it sit for 10 minutes. Remove the glove while wearing an oven mitt, and rub glove oil all over the outside of the glove. Use extreme caution when attempting this "hot glove" treatment. Some players swear by this option, while other refuse to even try.

Step 3

Rub glove oil on the outside of the glove every day for a week. This should loosen the glove considerably, and though it may take more time than other options, you are guaranteed no fires or shaving cream smells.

Step 4

Play catch every day for at least 20 minutes per day. This is the only 100 percent fail-safe way to break in a glove. It may take weeks, even months to break a glove in to the point where you are completely comfortable with it, but this is the safest, cheapest and most traditional way to break a Mizuno glove in.

Tips and Warnings

If you decide to go with any of the three first options, or all three in succession, always proceed to option four between break-in treatments. In other words, if you put shaving cream on the glove once every other day, play catch with a partner for 20 minutes on the days in between.
Allow a substantial amount of time for the glove to cool down after removing it from the oven. The leather will be extremely hot, and you can very easily burn yourself attempting to place the glove on your hand.