Batting Glove Fit Guide

The palm is the part that does the work. It should lie flat against the hand with no excess leather, so that when the fingers close around the handle the glove closes with them rather than folding ahead of them. Across the back of the hand the glove can be a little more relaxed; the back is there for comfort and airflow, not grip.

Restrictive is different from snug. If making a fist pulls the glove tight across the knuckles, or the seam between the fingers presses when the hand is open, the glove is too small and will not loosen enough to fix it.

Leather gives a little across the width of the palm with wear. It does not grow in length. So the fingertips should sit at, or a fraction short of, the end of each finger from the first day: a glove whose fingers are a quarter inch too long will always be a quarter inch too long, and that spare length bunches at the tip and under the fingers when the hand closes.

• Fingertips touching the end lightly: right.
• Fingertips pressing, the finger seams pulling: too small.
• Empty leather at the tips that folds when you grip: too large, or a cut that does not suit the hand.

Bunching is loose leather gathering in the palm as the hand closes. It is the most common fit fault and the most costly: a fold of leather between the hand and the handle slides, changes the pressure of the grip from swing to swing, and wears through before the rest of the glove. The causes are a glove that is a size too big, or a hand that is long in the fingers and narrow in the palm wearing a glove cut for a wider hand.

The check is simple. Put the glove on, grip a bat, and look at the palm side of the hand. Flat leather is right. A ridge running across the palm means size down, or try a pair with a different cut.

The strap holds the glove to the hand so the two move as one; it is not a wrist brace. Fasten it firmly enough that the glove does not shift on the hand when the bat is waggled, and loose enough that the wrist still hinges freely through the swing. A strap fastened at the very end of its range is a sign the glove is the wrong size in the body.

Bass records list two strap builds across its batting gloves: the Max Pro strap and the Low-Pro strap. Each product page says which one that pair carries. The Bass Ambush, Platinum Series, Gold Series Powder Blue and the Hawk pairs are recorded with the Max Pro strap; the Cotton Candy pair is recorded with the Low-Pro strap.

Batting gloves are sized in letters. Bass batting gloves are listed in adult S, M, L and XL, and some pairs add a youth size: a youth XL on the Cotton Candy, Gold Series Powder Blue, Platinum Series and Hawk Gold Series Albino, and a youth L on the Hawk Series Maroon Platinum. The size list on each product page is the current one.

To choose between letters, measure the hand: the length from the crease at the base of the palm to the tip of the middle finger, and the circumference around the knuckles with the thumb excluded. A hand that is long for its width fits better one size up with the strap firm; a hand that is wide for its length fits better at the size its circumference suggests. Youth sizes exist because a young hand is narrower and shorter in the fingers than a small adult hand, not only smaller.

Between two sizes, most hitters are better served by the smaller one, because the palm will give a little across its width with wear and a loose palm never tightens. The exception is a hand that is long in the fingers: there, the larger size with a firm strap avoids pressing the fingertips.

A batting glove is between the hand and the bat on every swing. When it fits, grip pressure is the same from pitch to pitch and the hitter feels the handle through it; when it does not, the hitter is gripping leather that moves, and squeezes harder to hold on, which tightens the forearms and slows the hands. Fit is also durability: a glove that folds wears through at the fold, while a flat palm wears evenly.

The palm material is recorded for each Bass pair. The Ambush, Cotton Candy and Gold Series Powder Blue are recorded with a Cabretta leather palm; the Platinum Series with a Pittard leather palm; the Hawk Gold Series Albino and Hawk Series Maroon Platinum with a premium leather palm. Each is listed with a breathable backhand. Care instructions, where a pair has them recorded, are on the Product Care page.