Different Ways of Placing Fingers in a Baseball Glove

The baseball glove has undergone many changes in the last half century. Most gloves have sections for all four fingers and a thumb, with each section comfortably holding the corresponding finger. However, many baseball players don't put all of their fingers in all of the holes. Preferences usually go back to early childhood or watching a parent put on a baseball glove with different finger patterns.

Standard Finger Placement

The normal way to place your fingers in a glove is to place each finger in the individual slot assigned to it. These slots are long enough to accommodate each finger and they give the fielder excellent control over the glove. This standard way to place your fingers in the glove is fine as long as it leaves the wearer with the confidence that he can execute any play that comes his way.

Index Finger Out

This is the second-most common way to put fingers in a baseball glove. The three outside fingers on your catching hand go in the slots that are assigned by the manufacturer. However, the index finger rests on top of the back of the glove. Placing the index finger on the back of the glove sometimes gives the user more control. By closing the glove with the finger on the outside, the user feels he can close the glove quicker and with more control. This habit was probably started very early in the user's baseball career and he finds it easier to just continue with it than make an adjustment.

Two Outside Fingers in One Section

Place the two outside fingers in the section that should go to the small finger on the catching hand. In past generations, many gloves were made this way. Instead of having one slot for each finger, the glove had a slot for the index finger, a slot for the middle finger and one slot for the two outside fingers. That slot was bigger than the rest because it accommodated two fingers. The theory was that those two outside fingers worked better in tandem to close the glove than they did alone because the small (pinkie) finger and ring finger don't have the same strength, coordination and dexterity as the index and middle fingers. Many players prefer to operate a glove this way and still do.