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05/10/2002 10:47 pm ET 
Carlos' Corner: Glove work
Peņa details unique ways to break in new leather
By Carlos Peņa / Special to MLB.com
Carlos Pena has many different methods for getting a new glove ready. 
Carlos Peņa, 23, was acquired by Oakland during the offseason in a six-player trade with Texas. He's the A's rookie starting first baseman, and he's providing for MLB.com an exclusive daily diary for the 2002 season.

Before Friday's game, Peņa talked about his different gloves and creative ways to break them in.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- I usually change gloves about twice a year, but I use a different glove for ground balls during batting practice. I don't like to use a first baseman's glove during BP because it lets you get lazy. I like to use a smaller glove to take ground balls because it makes me feel quick and light, and it forces me to increase my intensity, my focus.

Before you use a glove, you have to break it in. Today I'm using a new glove, and the way I broke it in is a little bit unique. It's something I came up with on my own through trial and error, and it works great.

What I do is take the new glove and smear it with Vaseline -- the kind with the blue label -- inside and out. All over. Not too much, but you have to get the whole glove. Now here comes the strange part: I take the glove and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Yes, the microwave.

After 30 seconds, I take it out for a full minute. Then I put it in the microwave again for 30 seconds, then out for another minute. You do this five times, five reps, and you can use your new glove that day. That day. Nice and soft.

It might only work with Nike gloves, though. I tried it with a Rawlings and it got burned. And if you're a young player, don't do this without asking your parents.

I've broken gloves in a lot of different ways, but this is one of only two that involve a microwave. The other one with the microwave is more involved. You need a microwave and a refrigerator.

"... then you just pop it into the microwave on defrost. Just like a chicken.

 

-- Carlos Peņa on glove prep
You do the same thing with the Vaseline, then roll up a sock, put in the web of your glove and tie it up. Then you put it in the fridge for a day. A whole day. When you take it out it's gonna be hard as a rock, but then you just pop it into the microwave on defrost. Just like a chicken. If you don't have a microwave, use the oven. But don't turn it up too high -- I've done that before.

There's plenty of ways to break in a glove that don't involve a microwave, but they take a little longer.

One of them is to throw the glove up in the air and just beat it with your bat. Over and over, beat it up good. Another is to put a ball in the web and put it under your bed at night and sleep on it. And rubbing a glove with shaving cream; that makes it softer, too. Another is to dip it in warm water, but that makes the glove heavy.

My favorite is the Vaseline and microwave, though. That's the fastest and the best.

Carlos Peņa's diary appears as told to Mychael Urban, who covers the Oakland A's for MLB.com and can be reached at murban@oaklandathletics.com. This story was not subject to approval by Major League Baseball or its clubs.