Baseball

Wood bats in maple, ash and birch:

the three woods behave differently in the hand and fail differently with age. Maple is the hardest and keeps a smooth, dense barrel, but when it does break it tends to go in large pieces. Ash flexes more and forgives a ball off the end, and as it ages the grain starts to separate and flake. Birch sits between the two. Whatever the wood, the lines of the grain should run straight along the bat; on maple, a small ink dot near the handle shows the grain was tested. Alloy and composite bats are mostly youth and training gear, and weighted training bats sit better with exercise equipment.

Gloves, mitts and the catcher’s gear behind the plate:

leather decides how a glove plays more than the logo does. Pro-line gloves from Rawlings, Wilson and Mizuno use stiff steerhide or the softer kip, and both take real work to break in. Cheaper gloves come oiled and ready to play from day one, but the same softness means they wear out sooner. Catchers and first basemen use mitts with no individual fingers, and catcher’s gear, the mask, chest protector and shin guards, is best bought as one set so it fits the same body. A batting helmet with a single ear flap covers the side that faces the pitcher, and it is built for a different kind of impact than an American football helmet.

What a broken-in pro glove still fetches:

a pro-line glove in steerhide or kip runs around $350 to $450 new in Panama. One that closes cleanly and still has sound laces tends to go for $150 to $250. The buyer is getting a season of break-in for free, but the pocket was shaped by someone else’s hand and position, and the leather laces are the part that goes first, so a relace is the next expense on the buyer’s mind.

Mould, flaking grain and copied leather:

are the three things to look for before paying. A glove left in a closet or a car trunk through the wet months grows white or greenish spots and dries out stiff afterwards. Smell it, look inside the finger stalls and flex the palm: cracking leather there is hard to bring back. On a wood bat, run a fingernail along the grain for lifting flakes and look closely at the handle, where hairline cracks start. Tap the barrel gently with a knuckle; a cracked bat sounds dull instead of ringing. Copies of pro-line gloves are lighter than the real thing, the leather feels coated rather than oily, and the laces are thin and shiny. A pro model priced below what genuine used ones fetch is the clearest warning of all.

A glove or a wood bat listed from David to Chitré:

needs the details that tell a player whether it will suit them: throwing hand, position, size in inches, the leather line, and whether it was broken in by you or arrived that way. For a wood bat give the length, weight and wood, and photograph the grain from the side. Show the pocket, the palm, the heel and the laces and say plainly if it has been relaced. A buyer coming in from Las Tablas will want to slip a hand into the glove and take a few throws in it, so bring a ball to the meeting.

FAQ:

• Does a glove marked RHT go on the right hand?

  No. RHT stands for right-hand throw, so the player throws with the right hand and wears the glove on the left. A left-handed thrower needs a glove marked LHT, and those are harder to find second-hand.

• Can softball gear be used for baseball?

  A softball glove has a longer, deeper pocket for the bigger ball, so it works for baseball but slows the transfer to the throwing hand. Bats are a different story: a softball bat is built for a larger, softer ball and is not meant to hit baseballs.