For years people swore by using vaseline on their mitt. With it’s thick viscosity it gives the user the sense that your applying something good to your glove. Is this really true? Let’s take a look inside.

First, not all “Vaseline” labeled products are the same. It depends on how it’s processed. But generally speaking Vaseline Petroleum Jelly is intended to create a barrier to lock a skin’s moisture content in. It’s a thick, viscous barrier that sits on the skin’s surface.

This works if the skin is a living organism, like your skin, where the moisture needed for healthy skin comes up from inside your body.

With a baseball glove, the leather is no longer living and doesn’t have its own source of moisture from the inside. Vaseline, acting as a barrier on the surface, does not bring moisture into the leather’s internal fiber structure.

What it does do is add substantial weight to the glove without adding moisture internally. The added weight makes the glove more difficult to handle. And, it can be problematic to the ballplayer fielding a ball.

Also, vaseline is sitting on the surface, creating a slickness, making it more difficult for the glove to “hold on to” the ball. It doesn’t make sense to have a slippery mitt that adds to the chance of making an error in the field.

Because of its chemical composition, it doesn’t evaporate easily. It stays put until you remove it or it wears away.

Finally, its blocking properties don’t allow the leather to breath.

Vaseline Petroleum Jelly manufactured by Unilever in India. It is made from water, Glycerin, Stearic Acid, Isopropyl Palmitate, Glycol Stearate, Peg-100 Stearate, Mineral Oil, Dimethicone, Petrolatum, Glyceryl Stearate, Phenoxyethanol, Cetyl Alcohol, Methylparaben, Acrylates/c10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Triethanolamine, Propylparaben, Disodium EDTA, Stearamide Amp, Cedrol, Dihydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride and Hydroxyethyl Urea.

Bottomline is that it doesn’t do terrible harm to your glove leather but doesn’t do any good either.

Use products that are intended to improve the health of your glove leather. That’s what the tech team at Advanced Leather Solutions did in creating the Mitt-Spit line of baseball glove care products. The are engineered to specifically improve the leather’s health and performance without adding weight to the glove.

Check out the Mitt-Spit line of products here: Mitt-Spit.com or click here Mitt-Spit Baseball Glove Care Products for the most advanced and effective care products for your glove.