  a baseball glove or mitt is a large leather glove that baseball players on the defending team are allowed to wear to assist them in catching and fielding balls hit by a batter, or thrown by a teammate. ==history==  early baseball was a game played without gloves. during the slow transition to gloves, a player who continued to play without one was called a barehanded catcher. this did not refer to the position of catcher, but rather to the practice of catching with bare hands. the earliest glove was not webbed and not particularly well suited for catching, but was used more to bat a ball to the ground so that it could be picked up. left|thumb|an 1885 glove patent. one of the first players believed to use a baseball glove was doug allison, a catcher for the cincinnati red stockings, in 1870, due to an injured left hand."baseball 'glove affairs'". npr. 4 september 2008. 27 june 2008. the first confirmed glove use was by charlie waitt, a st. louis outfielder/first baseman who in 1875 donned a pair of flesh-colored gloves. glove use slowly caught on as more and more players began using different forms of gloves. <!-- who said this, in what context? a baseball player? a poet? recently, or in the 1800s? this needs more context. we used no mattress on our hands, no cage upon our face; we stood right up and caught the ball, with courage and with grace." that was the typical reaction from the "old-time" players when the gloves were first introduced. --> many early baseball gloves were simple leather gloves with the fingertips cut off, supposedly to allow for the same control of a bare hand, but with extra padding. first baseman albert spalding, originally skeptical of glove use, influenced more infielders to begin using gloves. spalding later founded the sporting goods company spalding, which still manufactures baseball gloves along with other sports equipment.bennett, r. (2006, march 31). glovology tcs daily. by the mid-1890s, it was the norm for players to wear gloves in the field. thumb|right|250px|a.g. spalding & bros. advertisement for infielder gloves, 1905 in , bill doak, a pitcher for the st. louis cardinals, suggested that a web be placed between the first finger and the thumb in order to create a pocket. this design soon became the standard for baseball gloves. for many years it was customary for fielders to leave their gloves on the field when their team went in to bat. this
Baseball_equipment Gloves