We are a youth baseball glove company.
As far as I know, we are the only glove company focused 100% on kids.
The gloves I've designed and watched over throughout production are specifically for kids aged 7-15. What makes a youth glove different from a "big boy" glove?
For starters, it's the leather I chose. My manufacturer calls it "Premium Java." I call it "soft but not flimsy." Put a Bradley glove on your hand and your first reaction is going to be that the glove feels comfortable immediately. Compare that feeling to what you experience when you put on a high-end, pro-level glove, which is going to be stiff. That's where we start.
But let me back up a second. As a high school and college player, I wanted a stiff glove. Why? Because I knew I a stiff, high-quality leather glove would, over time, break-in to my liking and hold up over a lot of games and practices. It was hard-earned trust between me and the glove. But a kid doesn't want that. A kid wants instant gratification.
So, I designed a glove that feels good right away.
Next is the way a kid's glove needs to work. The finger stalls, where the player's finger tips reach the part of the glove where each digit is separated...need to be closer for a kid. Amazingly, I found that on many kids gloves, the finger stalls were still out of reach.
The palm area was most critical. This is where my "soft but not flimsy" leather comes into action. Across the board, the worst part of most kids gloves is the palm. Close the glove and watch the leather on the palm push up, creating a trampoline for the ball.
Through a painstakingly long process that took over two years, I tweaked the palm area of my gloves until I was 100-percent sure the pocket would not pucker. For me, this was the money shot. In other words, I could have produced a glove with a lesser leather, or a synthetic substitute, and I'd have been able to keep the cost down significantly.
But I didn't want to produce another "disposable" youth baseball glove that would sell for $50. I wanted to produce a pro-quality glove in terms of shape and functionality, for a kid.. The only thing that's not pro-quality about my glove is the stiffness of the leather.
So, back to the original point. We're different because we're a youth glove company. And because I am not - and will never be - in the business of paying a pro to use a glove.
We're here to help your kid love baseball.