Best Baseball Gloves – Review and Buyer’s Guide

Many of the gloves we will review here have variations available for pitchers, infielders, outfielders, and some for catchers and first baseman.
Each glove has some specific nuances to make it more applicable to that position. A catcher’s glove will have much more padding than any other, while an outfielder’s glove will be longer than others, to provide just a little extra reach to help field that position.

In this review, we’re going to take a look at fourteen different baseball gloves, all with a price of under $100. Our focus will be on the more generic type gloves, rather than the specialty gloves designed for catchers and first basemen.

We’ll start here with a high-level look at the fourteen gloves.

Product	Best Features	Rating (Number of Reviews)	Price Range	View on Amazon
Rawlings Sandlot	11-3/4” glove for infielder/pitcher, broken in at factory, extra padding for palm and fingers	4.7 out of 5 (102)	$$$	Check Price
Wilson A1000	all leather shell, laces, and lining, infielder’s glove, 11.5”, available in multiple colors and designs	4.6 out of 5 (71)	$$$	Check Price
Rawlings Select Pro Lite	11-1/2” youth IF glove, leather lacing and shell, 90% broken in by factory	4.6 out of 5 (157)	$$	Check Price
Rawlings Renegade	12-1/2” utility glove for baseball or softball, factory broken in, cushioned palm and fingers	4.6 out of 5 (279)	$$	Check Price
Rawlings R9 Baseball Glove	11-1/2” youth pitcher/infielder glove, leather shell, taper fit for smaller hands, reinforced palm and padded thumb	4.6 out of 5 (24)	$$$	Check Price
Rawlings P115GBMT	11-1/2” youth pitcher/infielder glove, all leather, taper fit for smaller hands, factory broken in	4.5 out of 5 (65)	$	Check Price
Mizuno Prospect PowerClose	11-1/2” youth pitcher/infielder utility glove, absorbent lining, Power Close technology	4.5 out of 5 (81)	$	Check Price
Rawlings Player Preferred	12-1/2” combination baseball or softball glove, padded palm, 80% factory break-in, one-piece solid webbing	4.5 out of 5 (539)	$$	Check Price
Wilson A900	12” first baseman’s glove, single post webbing, Pedroia fit	4.5 out of 5 (163)	$$$	Check Price
Rawlings R9 Baseball Glove Series	12” pitcher’s glove, 2-piece solid webbing, padded thumb, palm, fingers, for 8-14-year-olds	4.5 out of 5 (42)	$$$	Check Price
Louisville Slugger Genesis	12” pitcher’s model, closed webbing, OF and IF models also available, leather palm, nylon shell	4.4 out of 5 (17)	$	Check Price
Mizuno MVP Prime	12” outfielder’s glove, #4 bestseller for outfielders, #16 for infielders, pro-level lacing, available multiple sizes and colors, 1.3# weight	4.4 out of 5 (20)	$$$	Check Price
Wilson A450	dual post web, 12” pitcher/infield/outfield glove, five available designs	4.3 out of 5 (35)	$	Check Price
Mizuno Franchise	12” pitcher’s glove, solid webbing, pre-oiled, anti-moisture lining, padded palm	4.0 out of 5 (21)	$$$	Check Price

This glove is a combined infield/pitcher glove, and the Sandlot series also has gloves available for the other positions; first base, outfield, and catcher. Rawlings has a glove-making history that goes back to the 1920s, and this series is a fine continuation of that history. It’s built for comfort with palm pads and finger padding and comes ready to play with a 90% factory break-in.

Wilson Sporting Goods makes a large variety of sporting equipment, and made their first baseball glove in 1922. The featured glove is an 11-1/2” pitcher’s or infielder’s glove, with a pro-laced solid webbing. The glove is black and gray leather, with red stitching for contrast. For gloves under $100, this is the upper end of the Wilson line and is priced just under $100.

This is our second visit to the Rawlings line, and won’t be the last. The featured glove is an 11-1/2” Kris Bryant infielder’s glove, modeled after the one used by this all-star player. Like other Rawlings’ gloves, it advertises as 90% broken in at the factory. It’s designed to give younger players a secure fit while wearing the glove.

This adult-sized glove is designed and marketed as a combination baseball and softball glove. This featured 12-1/2” model has a large, neo-flex pocket to accommodate either sized ball. It has the standard Rawlings 90% break-in, and comes highly rated on over 270 reviews.

Patterned after professional designs, this 11-1/2” pitcher/infielder glove has an all-leather content. It’s an attractive black leather with red lacing and highlights. Designed for an easy break-in, it’s well-padded for comfort, and “out of the box” ready to use.

This is another youth glove from Rawlings, an 11-1/2” combination pitcher/infielder glove. As with the other gloves from them, this one is game ready from the Rawlings factory. It has a Trap-Eze web, and comes in brown, black, and tan leathers.

We go back to the Mizuno line for this 11.5” youth utility glove. It comes in soft, brown leather, and has PowerClose features to make the glove easier to close for smaller hands. It’s recommended for recreational and t-ball use and is a good glove for those just learning the game. Very lightweight at under 13 ounces, it’s sized perfectly for the youngest players.

This combination baseball and softball glove is designed for adult use and is 12-1/2” size. A large basket web, fully solid, makes this glove suitable for playing pretty much any position in the field other than first base or catcher. It is almost fully broken in, and can be easily finished and ready for play in a very short time. It has a mid-range price at $56 and a good 4.5 rating.

This Wilson model is a 12” first baseman’s glove, the first of this type we have reviewed. It features a very large, single post web with a triple crossbar, and comes in dark brown leather with white trim. It’s a full leather glove, sized for youth or adults with small hands, and comes with a low heel for improved feeling on bouncing or short-hopped throws.

This is another glove from the R9 series. In this case, the model is a combination pitcher/infielder glove, featuring a two-piece solid webbing, in black and brown leather, with red trim. It’s geared for the most talented players in the 8-14-year-old range. With many pro-like features, it’s an upper-end glove for the upper-end player.

While better known for their bats, this 12” pitcher’s glove comes from the Louisville Slugger line. It’s a youth glove, designed for younger players. It’s made from both leather and nylon, and features an easy-closing pocket which is useful in teaching younger players to catch.

Mizuno also has a long history of making baseball gloves, dating back to 1913. The featured glove is an older-youth glove designed for pitchers. It has a tapered fit and lower finger slots manufactured specifically for smaller hands. It’s a good-looking, black leather glove, with solid webbing and an embroidered logo. It does require some level of break-in prior to use.

This utility glove comes from the Wilson 450 line, aimed at the younger and newer players. Based on reviews, the glove is best sized for players ten and under. This model is a combined infield/outfield glove, but could also be used as a pitcher’s glove. It’s made of black pigskin leather with blonde trim to give it a professional player look.

This 11.5” utility glove is designed for infielders, outfielders, or pitchers, with a regular pocket depth. It is available in a variety of sizes from 11-1/2” to 12.5”, and the series is also available in a catcher’s model. It features a single bar webbing and uses a pre-oiled Java oil for “out of the box” use with just a little additional break-in.

Let’s start with a history lesson about who invented the game of baseball. Most will give credit to Abner Doubleday, dating back to the summer of 1839, but then, most would be wrong.

A panel created in 1907 by A.G. Spalding, a former player and the same Spalding behind today’s well-known sporting goods company, was behind this history. Using the claims of a single man as validation, the legend of Doubleday was created. This legend was parlayed thirty years later into the creation of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, where the first baseball game was purported to have been played.

In reality, baseball is a mix of two English sports, cricket and rounders, each dating back to the 17th century and brought to America by British colonists. American baseball adopted some features from each of these two sports and was actually first played in 1845 by the New York Knickerbocker Baseball Club. A member of this club, Alexander Cartwright, is credited with codifying the rules of the game and is the true inventor of the sport.

The rules established by Cartwright made the game a faster-paced sport and differentiated it from cricket. These rules, including three strikes you’re out, foul lines, a diamond-shaped infield, and tagging (rather than hitting the runner with the ball), the baserunner remain in effect today. The Knickerbockers played the first game under these changes against a cricket team in 1846, creating this uniquely American sport, which has now gained global popularity.

Baseball continued to evolve and gain in popularity in the US. A group of eight teams banded together in 1877 and took over maintenance of the rule book, calling themselves the National League. This same National League still exists today and is known as the senior circuit.

The junior circuit, the American League, was also formed with eight teams, but not until 1901. The two leagues were not exactly amicable initially, with the older National League trying their best to push the upstart American League out of business. When it became apparent that was not going to happen, the two leagues signed the National Agreement, with the understanding that each would be considered a major league, and the champions of each of the two leagues would meet annually in a World Series.

In this article, we will be looking specifically at baseball gloves and will review fourteen different gloves priced under $100. But before beginning that review, let’s take some time to look back at the development of the baseball glove from the 1800s through today’s models.

The original baseball games were played bare-handed, and broken fingers and bruises were signs of manliness among the players. The first use of a glove is credited to Charles Waite in 1875. Waite’s glove was made out of a flesh-colored material, as he feared ridicule from wearing it should other players notice. It turns out he was right, but that didn’t stop the use of the glove.

A.G. Spalding, mentioned earlier here, began to use a glove himself in 1877. Spalding also saw the commercial potential for baseball gloves and began making and selling them to others. In early glove developments, some padding was added, and webbing placed between the fingers of the gloves.

In 1895, the National League established rules about the maximum size and weight of baseball gloves.

The next significant glove development came in 1919 when a major league player asked Rawlings, an equipment manufacturer, to put a large web between the thumb and forefinger. With this simple change, the glove became a catching tool rather than a protection tool. You can see the development of the webbing in the second row of pictures below.

The 1950s brought deeper pockets and wide webbing, and also the development of position-specific gloves. These developments served to improve defensive quality during the games, as the fielding capabilities of the players improved dramatically.

You can see the evolution of fielder’s gloves in the picture below:

Baseball continues to change and evolve, but overall it is the same game played over a century ago. All ages and skill levels play baseball, from 5-year-olds learning the game via t-ball to major leaguers with unbelievable skills, making millions of dollars per year.

Baseball is played globally, and has even been featured in the Olympics up until 1988, and will be revived in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It has exceptional popularity in the countries of Latin and Central America, and these nations have sent hundreds of players to America to play in the major leagues. Even the Little League World Series features teams from around the globe, including Europe and Asia. It may be the national pastime in the US, but it truly is a global sport.

So, that wraps up our review of features, specifications, and functional characteristics of the fourteen gloves. Let’s move on to the individual reviews.