How would one go about

bigjbowski16

Addicted to Softballfans
Is the main difference between the hardball and rubberball gloves the internals, or leather too? Internals I could upgrade, the leather is the leather.
 

Wally Gator

Starting Player
Caught the last couple of innings on the MLB network of the Japan All-star series last night. Japan, down by two in the ninth scored four runs to win by two:rolleyes:.

Of course I was mainly interested in the gloves the Japanese All-Star players were wearing, I spotted Under Armour, Asics, and Hatakeyama. Man, it's really hard to spot a glove logo / patch on a moving player especially when you're not all that familiar with those gloves! I think I yelled at the TV for the 2B, SS, and the 3B to be still:D
Sadly, with my poor sleeping pattern, I'm watching the games live starting at 4 or 5am.
 

NYC

Swag on 100.
Is the main difference between the hardball and rubberball gloves the internals, or leather too? Internals I could upgrade, the leather is the leather.
If I were to get one of these it'd be worth it to just go for the hardball version and not take the chance. I hate thin leather and something tells me that they use the thin part of the hide for rubberball and the thick part for hardball.
 

ANNASDAD

The Veteran
Is the main difference between the hardball and rubberball gloves the internals, or leather too? Internals I could upgrade, the leather is the leather.
I'm really not the best guy to answer this, but I *think* I read somewhere before that it is the internals that are different. The hardball gloves are beefier inside!

If ever interested, I'd definitely order a hardball glove!
 

ANNASDAD

The Veteran
Japanese pitcher right now is using a red Asics with a two-piece web. Japan is up 4-1 in the bottom of 8, they have absolutely handled the MLB All-Stars!
 

ANNASDAD

The Veteran
Dilemma...........

Anna left this morning for a week long mission trip to Honduras, this is a school mission trip and she’s one of four girls on the softball team who went. Here’s the dilemma, there’s a couple that goes to our church, awesome couple who’s celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, the husband went to Japan several years ago for work, he was there for two months, it was obvious he fell in love with Japan! This trip he and his wife are going to a upstart church to help all they can for two weeks, I fully expect this couple to move there within the next 5 years!

I completely forgot they were leaving this morning, I got up this morning at 3:45am to have Anna at the airport at 4:45am, got her all situated, gave her a big hug & kiss and found the biggest HS boy and let him know he better look after her or I’d literally kill him, they’ve heard the stories and they’re all scared of me!

Anyway, this couple was boarding at the same area Anna was boarding and they saw each other, hugs all around especially considering this couple’s son is absolutely in love with Anna, so is this couple!

I had already left and missed them, I was completely in zombie mode! The husband sent me a text telling me he saw Anna and gave her a big hug..........and the only thing that jumped in my mind was.........they’re going to Tokyo!!! I sent this guy a link to the Kubota Slugger store that Rous linked several months back, they have two stores, one outside of Tokyo, he said they have rail passes and are already going exactly to the town where this store is and to just let him know! Decisions Decisions!!

http://dennisamith.com/2017/04/27/the-one-about-kubota-slugger/

I’ve looked, it’s a pain in the butt finding all the model numbers / series to these gloves, any idea how or who to talk to about a particular model! Something like a 12.5” hardball model. And any idea what kind of money it would take for him to walk out of this store with a Kubota Slugger in hand?
 

Party mafia

Well-Known Member
Dilemma...........

Anna left this morning for a week long mission trip to Honduras, this is a school mission trip and she’s one of four girls on the softball team who went. Here’s the dilemma, there’s a couple that goes to our church, awesome couple who’s celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, the husband went to Japan several years ago for work, he was there for two months, it was obvious he fell in love with Japan! This trip he and his wife are going to a upstart church to help all they can for two weeks, I fully expect this couple to move there within the next 5 years!

I completely forgot they were leaving this morning, I got up this morning at 3:45am to have Anna at the airport at 4:45am, got her all situated, gave her a big hug & kiss and found the biggest HS boy and let him know he better look after her or I’d literally kill him, they’ve heard the stories and they’re all scared of me!

Anyway, this couple was boarding at the same area Anna was boarding and they saw each other, hugs all around especially considering this couple’s son is absolutely in love with Anna, so is this couple!

I had already left and missed them, I was completely in zombie mode! The husband sent me a text telling me he saw Anna and gave her a big hug..........and the only thing that jumped in my mind was.........they’re going to Tokyo!!! I sent this guy a link to the Kubota Slugger store that Rous linked several months back, they have two stores, one outside of Tokyo, he said they have rail passes and are already going exactly to the town where this store is and to just let him know! Decisions Decisions!!

http://dennisamith.com/2017/04/27/the-one-about-kubota-slugger/

I’ve looked, it’s a pain in the butt finding all the model numbers / series to these gloves, any idea how or who to talk to about a particular model! Something like a 12.5” hardball model. And any idea what kind of money it would take for him to walk out of this store with a Kubota Slugger in hand?

check the FB fielding gloves, i tagged you Annasdad, someone is selling a kubota slugger KSN-SPS for $200.
 

David the Gnome

The Veteran
check the FB fielding gloves, i tagged you Annasdad, someone is selling a kubota slugger KSN-SPS for $200.
That glove is one of the lower end rubber ball gloves. The top end hard ball customs will run you $700+ new.

And any idea what kind of money it would take for him to walk out of this store with a Kubota Slugger in hand?

Their low-end hardball gloves start at a little over $300 US. They can go as high as $500 for non-customs. Any of their hardball gloves are going to be comparable in quality to most A2000/HOH gloves. Figuring out sizes of gloves can be hard, especially without being able to see them. For whatever reason, Japanese players don't seem to stress so much about how long the glove is and more about how wide the palm is. A lot of brands in japan max out at 12.5" for their outfield gloves and their infield gloves can be as small as 10-11".

As far as rubber ball versus hardball, the leather on the rubber ball gloves is not the same as the hardball gloves. The thing to keep in mind with rubber ball vs. hardball is that in Japan, when you get to high school, you switch from rubber ball to hardball. So all the rubber ball gloves are meant for players who are younger than that. This means they are targeted at youths and will use softer and easier to break in materials than hardball gloves, which are meant for high school to adult players. They also don't have to withstand as much abuse as the hardball gloves do. High school baseball in Japan is pretty intense and most clubs will practice every single day, even on game days. The net result of this is that the hardball gloves will be a huge step up in quality (even the cheaper ones) over any rubber ball glove.

I have two Japanese market Mizuno Pro's, one rubber and one hardball. The rubber ball glove's leather has a much softer and thinner feel to it than the hardball glove. You will definitely feel it if you catch one in the palm with the rubber ball glove. You can use a rubber ball glove for hardball, but it will be putting strain on the glove that it wasn't designed for. Given how infrequently many of us here use our gloves, you probably won't wear one out, but it's worth taking into consideration.

If you have the advantage of having someone there in person to buy for you it greatly simplifies the process and lowers the cost. I would highly suggest investing in the hardball glove in that scenario. If you don't have a connection to someone in Japan who can buy for you, you can try ordering through sites like Swallow Sports, or you can pay the markups that Japanese market gloves bring on eBay. In that scenario, it may be more cost effective to get the rubber ball glove, especially if you aren't sure if you'll like the pattern.

My Mizuno Pro rubber ball glove:

2mfk9jp.jpg


2q2g0hl.jpg


wj6j4o.jpg


14biwjm.jpg


And a hardball vs. a Japanese rubber ball (nanshiki 軟式):

144a44k.jpg
 

allround

New Member
Kubota Slugger not top notch leather quality in Japan Brands, but many infielder love their unique pattern by bare hand concept. They highly recommended Hot water treatment to bring all potentialities into full play.

 
Last edited:

davisrelacing

The Other Guy
I've also learned that many Japanese players, especially hardball players, prefer lighter gloves, so much so that JDM lines may have the leather skived to a thinner overall weight even before manufacturing. Just more food for thought in the whole process!
 

David the Gnome

The Veteran
Kubota Slugger not top notch leather quality in Japan Brands, but many infielder love their unique pattern by bare hand concept. They highly recommended Hot water treatment to bring all potentialities into full play.

I am pretty sure I would be getting hit in the face with a ball real fast trying to catch like that haha.
 

ANNASDAD

The Veteran
The guy who’s there right now, his name is Lyn, he sent me a text a couple of hours ago........he said “you ever make your mind up about that glove?” :eek:

Putting the pressure on!
 

ANNASDAD

The Veteran
What's the price?
I not sure there’s actually a way to find out unless he goes there? I have no idea what it’s like there, or how much a hassle it is getting around in that area? He has a rail pass so they’re taking a train everywhere they go.

Price? I’ve heard anywhere from $450 to $800, that’s not something I’m willing to gamble on without putting my hand in it and seeing some different options and sizes!

But on the other hand...... I know a guy, and he’s there, now!
 

Rous

Addicted to Softballfans
I was so close to getting a Kubota Slugger a few years back. They don't really do softball gloves and even the outfield baseball gloves see to max out at about 12.5" KS is known more for infield patterns than outfield. I think KSN are rubber ball gloves and KSG are hardball.

Here is a size chart. So the cm listed is to match the "circumference" of your hand. The left column that seperates the 160cm, 160-170cm and 170cm specifies the height of the player. 5'6" is 167cm. 6' is 182cm. I think the SP gloves are the outfield gloves with the SPT on the larger side (I think it was the one I wanted). WIth the exchange rate, divide the yen price by 110 and you'll be close. So 40,000 yen is $360.
602237_6.jpg
 

Rous

Addicted to Softballfans
I don't think it would be that bad, it's effectively just a mod-trap with an extra piece of lace woven down the center. Like a cross between my PRO1175-15RT and the Carlos Correa glove.

110ajdh.jpg


9fbe2271ff3ce015e5910e3d474ac2a4c3deff13_WTA20RB19CC1GM_A2000_Leather_IF_CC1_1175_GY_BU_OR_Back_1200x.jpg
Yeah, it was just my gut reaction with all that lace. It's just an extra couple of weaves of the trap. But, I also hate mod traps with the spirals that the trap laces have to work through. With a 6-finger trap, those spirals serve a purpose, but on mod traps they don't.
 

exccsracer

Scrooge McBase
I ran across this thread researching the ASICS gloves. I’m currently in Japan at the moment and scooped up a glove yesterday. It’s an ASICS 14” OF model. Definitely plays small and it’s stiff as hell. I left the tags on it so and I’m still trying to decide whether I’m gonna game it or not. It was listed at 32400yen and it was 40% off. It worked out to about $175 usd. I’ll post a pic when I’m able to.
 

David the Gnome

The Veteran
I ran across this thread researching the ASICS gloves. I’m currently in Japan at the moment and scooped up a glove yesterday. It’s an ASICS 14” OF model. Definitely plays small and it’s stiff as hell. I left the tags on it so and I’m still trying to decide whether I’m gonna game it or not. It was listed at 32400yen and it was 40% off. It worked out to about $175 usd. I’ll post a pic when I’m able to.
That's probably a size 14, which would be 12.75".
 
Top