Today’s budgetary restrictions affect us all, but we don’t need to give up the essentials like a backyard baseball game with our kids and the necessary equipment to play them! All-American baseball games are attended and enjoyed by families with kids of all ages, even toddlers and the smallest children are eager to learn and play this game!
Your toddlers don’t usually need any equipment or props to play-out the last baseball game they attended or watched on television. However moms and especially dads, will go out of their way to find sports gear for their youngsters, just as I have. The very best places to begin “the hunt” for miniature, yet safe sports equipment such as baseballs, bats and an age-appropriate baseball mitt or glove, is your local dollar store or neighborhood drug store.
Over the years I’ve found infant-sized (under one year old) realistic, yet pliable vinyl glove and soft baseball sets for $3.99 to $5.99. There are tan terrycloth bath mitts with a white baseball imprinted on the palm for $1.99 to $2.99, and other creative wearable baby baseball gloves and other “gear” at Target, K-Mart and of course Wal-Mart. Children’s specialty stores may even have a larger selection, so watch for sales on your favorite baby sports gear and accessories.
Keep in mind your toddlers won’t need any actual baseball equipment to enjoy or act-out a baseball game with you or their piers. As they get older they may grab your kitchen or BBQ mitt to add realism to their bouncy-ball game of “catch”, while a neon swim-noodle becomes an out-of-control baseball bat. Don’t worry this is normal, it’s the “real thing” in their little minds, as their vivid imaginations can save you lots of money!
When your child turns three to five years old you may want to look for a small regulation-looking baseball glove, which may or may not come with a light-weight rubber softball and plastic whiffle-style bat included, right in the toy isle of your local grocery store. My son had several of these colorful sets when he was younger, and they weren’t very expensive. A great value for $5.99 to $9.99 per set, and they last indefinitely.
This safe, although inferior baseball gear works great for teaching the sport to your child or a game of “catch” for father and son or mother and daughter. However at some point your boy or girl is going to want the real thing, a regulation baseball glove.
Depending on the size of your child, you might want to purchase his or her first catcher’s mitt as a birthday or Christmas gift, or have them save their allowance until they can purchase the glove of their choice. Your child’s first leather or leather-like baseball glove shouldn’t be a perfect fit but run a little larger for them to grow into, or else you’ll be replacing it sooner than you want to!
You child’s hand should fit completely into the glove with extra room for growth spurts, and be able to hold onto a standard-sized hard or soft baseball, although a little clumsy at first. Remember this is the glove they will be growing up with and taking off to college with them.
If your child is planning on joining a softball team you might want to check for color or price restrictions on the glove your child can bring to their games. There are so many different brand names, styles and colors to choose from you’ll want to shop around. Left or right-handed baseball gloves are available in brown, tan, black, pink or white with prices ranging from $29.99 to $299.99 or more! You really can’t go wrong with brands like Rawlings, Spaulding or Wilson All-Pro baseball gloves, if you can only make it past the sticker shock!
There are of course many other reputable brands for less, but your child should help earn at least part of the money to afford a professional glove, or one he can afford to put on lay-a-way. He or she will be proud of their efforts to earn their own baseball glove, a cherished lifetime piece, to use one day to teach their own kids how to play our national sport, baseball.
