In the late 19th century, George and Alfred Rawlings took a shot on their dreams and opened a sporting goods store in St. Louis, MO. To begin, they sold all the sporting goods that one could think of, but in the year of 1920, they struck gold in the market of baseball gloves. That year they released a glove that they had developed with their hometown Cardinals’ pitcher, Bill Doak. Bill and Rawlings worked together to build the first baseball glove that featured a “webbing” between the thumb and index finger. This allowed the player to catch a baseball in the “pocket” of the glove as opposed to right on the palm. It was a major upgrade from the basic mitten and glove designs that had existed prior to 1920. The Doak glove could now take away some of the difficulty that went into the action of catching and fielding baseballs.
Fast forward to today and the year 1920 seems a long ways away when it comes to Rawlings gloves. While the Doak model of 1920 featured a few laces strung between the thumb and pinky of the glove to create the web; today’s Rawlings gloves can be built with I-Webs, H-Webs, Trapeze Webs and many more. And regarding that red Rawlings patch that has become so iconic over the years; it seems like Rawlings can update its look to what seems like an innumerable amount of color combinations.
But if you want to find a true celebration of all the baseball and softball glove advancements that Rawlings has made in their 100+ year history, then you need to visit the Rawlings Custom Glove Builder as there is no other place quite like the custom builder that captures the incredible capabilities of Rawlings glove innovation .
How To Build A Rawlings Custom Glove
When you start building a Rawlings Custom, one of the biggest thrills is selecting from three illustrious series of Rawlings gloves. If you’re building a baseball glove, you can select from the Pro Preferred, Heart of the Hide and Gamer XLE series.
And if you’re going with a fastpitch glove, you’ll have the option to choose from the Pro Preferred, Heart of the Hide or Liberty Advanced Series.
If you’re wanting a slow pitch glove, Rawlings technically doesn’t have any slow pitch specific options for custom building. But don't despair, a 12.5” or longer baseball glove would work extremely well for slow pitch play.
Once your series has been selected, the fun really gets going! You can now begin playing with what this writer believes is the most iconic part of any glove: the web.
There are going to be close to 15 different web options from which you can select depending upon the series and size of glove that you have chosen. And you’ll be surprised by some of the rarer webs they include in this builder. See below...
Design Your Rawlings Custom Glove
And for some, the next experience of selecting your own iconic Rawlings brand patch may top the ability to select your own web. So many players have grown up with a Rawlings glove that bore the scarlet red patch somewhere near the wrist opening of the glove. To many, that red patch is as much a part of baseball as a hot dog is at the ballpark. But if you ever dreamed of altering the look of that patch ever so slightly to synergize it with the look of your glove, you can do it here.
As you can imagine, you’ll then be able to choose different colors for the lacing, shell palm, shell backing, etc…
Major excitement will then return when you get the chance to customize some of the embroidery that will go on your glove. There truly is no better way to show the versatility of how you can customize the embroidery than by showing a few pics. Take a look below to see how you can add your your favorite bible passage, a professional team logo or your jersey number plus name to the glove:
Rawlings Custom Glove Reviews
- "This is the best glove I have ever put on my hand! And I have been wearing baseball gloves for over 60 years! The leather is buttery smooth unlike the hard leather for which the HOH was known [for] so many years ago. The workmanship and shape is exceptional. It may take a little work and time to break in to your liking but it is so very little compared to the final result...the best glove you can find. So, if you have a player that merits the very best, then take the time to design one." - JG Customer, Capt Chas
- "Beautiful craftsmanship. Leather is amazing." - JG Customer, Ed
Rawlings Custom Glove FAQ's
- How long do Rawlings Custom Gloves take?
- It will take between 7-9 weeks for a Rawlings to be built and shipped to a customer.
- Where are Rawlings Custom Gloves made?
- Rawlings Custom Gloves ordered from JustGloves will be made alongside the custom gloves that Rawlings creates for professional players.
- How to break in a new Custom Rawlings glove?
- The best way to break in a Rawlings Custom glove is simply to use it as much as possible. Play catch with a family member or friend. Take it to every practice that you attend. Typically, a Rawlings Custom will come as a stiff glove, but if you used it every day for 2-3 weeks, there is a good chance that it will be game ready by the end of the third week.
If you need some extra help getting it game ready though, we would recommend getting our Glove Care Kit. The glove kit has everything you'll need to get it softened for game use. You can start by adding the smallest amount of conditioner possible to the entire glove. You can then use the plastic shaping ball (with the help of rubber bands) to help form the pocket of the glove. Once you've allowed your glove to rest for a singnificant amount of time with the shaping ball secured in the pocket (an entire night would suffice), your glove will have a great foundation set regarding its shape. Next, you'll want to make sure that you hit the glove consistently with a glove mallet or use it with a baseball as much as possible (as outlined above). As well, when you're done working the glove with the mallet or done playing catch, you can put the shaping ball back into the glove's pocket and re-apply the rubber bands. To watch a video on this process, check out below...
- The best way to break in a Rawlings Custom glove is simply to use it as much as possible. Play catch with a family member or friend. Take it to every practice that you attend. Typically, a Rawlings Custom will come as a stiff glove, but if you used it every day for 2-3 weeks, there is a good chance that it will be game ready by the end of the third week.
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As you can certainly tell, Rawlings’ glove building ability has certainly grown since their early days in the late 1800’s. If nothing else, we hope that this blog post gets you fired up enough to at least play around with the Rawlings Custom Glove Builder on our website. Nothing gets the creative juices flowing like sitting down to build a dream baseball or softball glove.
If you have questions about the Rawlings Custom Builder; please reach out to us by phone at 1-866-321-4568, through email via experts@justgloves.com or by simply live chatting right here!
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