Who Is The Ball Glove King?

Chris Bangert loves gloves. As the man behind Ball Glove King, he is on a mission to help players and parents make informed glove-purchasing decisions. JustGloves sat down with Chris recently on Episode 2 of our Beyond The Glove Podcast to discuss how the Ball Glove King got started, what it is like to be a full time YouTuber and his number one tip for glove buying. Let's dive in!

What made you start the Ball Glove King YouTube Channel? 

Hobbies are often expensive and [glove collecting] was expensive. So I probably had maybe 20, maybe up to 30 gloves. My wife was like why are you collecting all of this and just hitting them [with baseballs] in the basement? 

She knew that I always wanted to do something with YouTube and so she definitely gave me a little bit of an extra nudge.

I had this passion of gloves. I had a lot of gloves. And I had no one to share it with. So it was super helpful and healthy to go find that audience. At the beginning, all I was doing was just searching for more people like me.

How did you settle on the name Ball Glove King? 

100% just got to give the credit to Will Taylor with the Baseball Bat Bros. So I reached out to him and was like "Hey, how much do you think it matters to like have a name?" He didn't call his channel Will Taylor, he called himself The Baseball Bat Bros. And he basically said that 'I credit something like 60% of our success to the name alone. Just super easy to understand. You know these guys do baseball bats.

So that's kinda what that stemmed from and Ball Glove King is what we went with.

What's your favorite video that you've shot?

One that sticks out for sure...Oneil Cruz. So when I filmed that video, I was definitely excited about it and thought it was going to do well. He's got this unique glove. [He plays] shortstop with a glove that's arguably the size for an outfield glove. Like over 12 inches. And he puts tape on the fingers for some reason. It was all adding up. This is so weird. The guy himself is like 6 foot 7 inches. 

And so I was really excited about it. And that was my first video that ever landed and kind of quickly just performed well.

What's the best interaction you have ever had with a fan of yours?

I do get quite a lot of messages [asking] "Can I have a free glove?". But every once in a while you get a message where they're not asking for a free glove, but they do give a little bit of insight into their situation and the ones that feel genuine to me...that's pretty fun. Like comng across this kid [named] Henry. He was just making a lemonade stand [and] trying to save money to buy a glove...we were able to send him an awesome, beautiful Wilson A2K. Super cool. Stuff like that is just a blast.

What's your number one tip for glove shopping? 

It's so personal, so it's kind of tough. But if I had to say one feature [that matters most], it's the pattern. For anyone who doesn't know, that means the shape of the glove. [It also includes] how the glove closes...you want to figure out by using your glove and then looking at everyone on your team. Look at their glove, ask to play catch with it...figure out what it is that you like and then you want to try and find the pattern.

This isn't just to name drop myself, but I do believe the best place to go right now to find out what pattern you might like is just to binge watch my channel...there's not really any other content out there right now that's going to help you figure out "what's the best glove for me?". If you watch my channel, you'll see the different types of break-ins.

Watching how pro players break in gloves is also really interesting cause they know what they're doing.

Figuring out the pattern [is my number one tip].

What do you think is the biggest innovation in the history of gloves?

[I have] two answers. 

One is the easy answer...when [Wilson made] the traditional baseball glove. Like what we have today where the ball gets trapped behind the thumb and the pinky. Before that we sort of had all of these wacky oven mitts and these just big random leather [hand coverings] with padding. Easily...that's the biggest [historical advancement] by far. 

That's kind of a boring answer in my opinion.

The next [answer] is the use of rubber or plastic. REV1X and SuperSkin...these different types of rubber materials that actually I think make a big difference.

Wilson's SuperSkin; it effectively makes the glove a little bit lighter, it's easier to break in. [It] doesn't really wear down. It's pretty impressive, it's pretty cool.

I think the REV1X is following suit. I'm a big fan of fielding with the REV1X. It's a very different experience than just your typical glove.

You are creating a custom glove from scratch. What does your glove look like?

Length? - 11.5 inches

Web? - H-Web

Color? - Tan

Stiffness? - Traditional. Not too stiff, but not so soft.

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We were super grateful that Chris was willing to take the time to sit down and interview with us. And we hope that you found his answers helpful! If you have any baseball glove questions, please feel free to give our friendly Glove Experts a call at 866-321-4568. You can also shoot them an email at experts@justgloves.com or click here to live chat. 

And if you want to watch the full interview with Chris Bangert, you can do so below: