Is it to give a batter a better grip on the bat? If that’s the case then how come the only players whose bat flies out of their hands into the stands are the ones wearing batting gloves?
Also, why do wide recievers wear gloves? Better grip? Then why don’t quarterbacks wear them as well?
From what I’ve experienced, batting gloves help absorb shock and help prevent blisters (or keep them from getting worse). As for the grip issue, I’m not sure what I should say. I certainly haven’t seen it happen.
I think batting gloves help you grip a lot better, especially if you’re the kind of person who sweats a lot. And if you’re swinging a wooden bat, it’ll take some of the sting out when you smack a ball off the handle.
You see gloves are also used to protect the hands. With the padded fingers they absorb the shock if you are hit on the hands while playing a shot. You are talking cricket aren’t you?
Definitely the sting thing, from a physical standpoint, as has been mentioned. But not to veer too far off of the subject, being a little league coach, I’ve noticed a lot of kids find a sense of comfort/confidence/coolness associated with the gloves. I don’t know how that translates into the big leagues, but it may be a psychological thing, carried over from youth.
I used to go to a batting cage once or twice a week, and managed to use their rubber coated handled bats to raise some nice blood blisters on my left palm (bottom hand). Batting gloves help prevent this, although I never really got the point about using one up top. It must be the grip.
Sting factor. Wooden bats KILL your hands if you don’t have a very solid grip on them. Hurts bad.
The gloves are used to get a better grip AND to keep the pine tar off your hands. Most hitters use pine tar on their bats, and if you’ve ever climbed a pine tree, you know it’s a major pain to get that crud off your hands.
As for wr’s using gloves, some use it to get a better grip on the ball, some use it for protection from injuries (jammed fingers, etc.), and some use 'em just to keep warm.
I use batting gloves, everyone on my team uses them. I and everyone else claim to use them to reduce sting. I get just as good a grip barehanded, but I’m much likelier to hop up and down after hitting one wrong, shrieking like a little girl, if I don’t have the protection of batting gloves.
Batting gloves also reduce blistering if you’re taking batting practice. The hands will blister very fast if you’re hitting balls by the dozen. Gloves prevent that.
I don’t think pine tar - which nobody uses in most leagues, since most aluminum bats are gripped - or the firmness of grip has much to do with it.
I was under the impression Rickjay that the OP was positing on the MLB, where wooden bats are the norm and pine tar is ubiquitous.
Quarterbacks are about the only football players who don’t wear gloves. It just wouldn’t work. They couldn’t grip the ball well enough to make a pass with gloves on. That’s why quarterbacks always have those hand warmer things around their belts. Before that, they just stuck their hands into their pants to keep them warm.
I don’t think running backs wear gloves as much as receivers do.
Batting gloves were an offshoot from golf gloves. Ken Harrelson is often credited as being the first player to wear batting gloves and he just wore golf gloves.
Batting gloves tend to be a lot thicker than golf gloves. And baseball players almost always wear two gloves, while few, if any, golfers wear two gloves unless it’s extremely cold.
I gave a coworker a golf glove as a birthday gift. She is going to be taking golf lessons soon. She asked why there was only one. I told her she would find out and she would be glad that she had the glove.
Why? I’ve never understood why most golfers wear a glove. I took up the game at an age when buying a glove was a serious expense, so I tried without. I’ve never had a problem. So, hijacking the thread slightly: what is the purpose of golf gloves?