Posted By:
JoannI suspect Dennis is right. Somewhere around the time webs were added, I think the purpose of a glove started the long evolution from "protect the hand" to "assist the catch" until it got to the bushel baskets in some positions today.
Which brings me to something I've been meaning to ask, but don't want to hijack the thread. Do they still teach "catch with two hands" like they did when I was a kid? Because, really - if they are they should stop. Catch with two hands is an artifact from a time when you needed to hands to assure the ball didn't pop out of the glove. Gloves now are actually engineered to help make sure the fielder doesn't have trouble getting the ball out of the glove. So the catch should be made in the position to allow the best throw, not with two hands as in the past.
But definitely I think that once it shifted from a protective device to an assist device (and is there any other assist device in baseball? How did that happen? lol), the increase in size was quick to follow. I'd be interested in seeing the latest card too. BTW, the very first post in the latest PU Thread has a great glove in pocket shot.
Joann
(If anyone wants to let me know how they coach catching today wrt using two hand, you can email me at jmkline@juno.com so the thread doesn't get hijacked.)