Introducing the Mountain Ball 11” - Handmade Baseball Glove

One of the main questions I receive is something along the lines of:

“Can you make me an 11.75”? What about a 12”? Or a 12.25” with a closed back? What about a 13” softball glove?”

The answer is usually, “Maybe someday.”

Unlike an actual glove factory, I struggle with making gloves outside of my current lineup. From the outside, it probably seems pretty simple. Just make the glove a little bigger or a little smaller, right?

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

Developing an entirely new baseball glove size and pattern requires a lot of patterning, testing, and development. Every component needs to work together. The proportions of the fingers, palm, hand stalls, pocket, web, binding, and overall shape all have to be considered. A small change in one area can have a pretty significant effect on how the finished glove feels and plays.

That is one of the challenges, and also one of the things I love, about making handmade baseball gloves.

Developing the Saguaro 12.75”

I recently launched my 12.75” Saguaro outfield glove because an outfield glove was probably the number one request I received.

Developing that pattern took me about a year to get where I wanted it.

A big part of that process was making sure I was completely confident in the pattern before investing in the tooling necessary to produce it consistently. That meant a lot of pattern adjustments, prototypes, and testing before I was willing to pull the trigger on a set of clicker dies.

Even though Mack Provisions isn't a factory, I try my darnedest to get as close to that level of consistency as I possibly can.

One of the most important tools in a traditional glove factory is the clicker die.

Clicker dies are essentially large, extremely sharp cutting tools that are used to cut the individual leather components that eventually become a baseball glove. A factory can use the same die thousands of times to produce components that are nearly identical from glove to glove.

Why is that important?

Two reasons: efficiency and consistency.

For a handmade baseball glove maker like me, clicker dies also represent a pretty significant investment. That's why I spend so much time developing a pattern before I ever commit to having the dies made.

Why Make an 11” Glove?

A lot of customers love my Desert Forge 11.5” infield glove. I've received a ton of great feedback on it, but there is one consistent criticism I hear:

It plays really big.

And that's not everyone's cup of tea.

Besides an outfield glove, the second most common request I receive is for something smaller. An 11” or 11.25” baseball glove comes up quite often.

The older I get, the more I've fallen in love with smaller gloves myself. For me, an 11” glove is just about perfect for playing catch in the backyard. It's quick, comfortable, and doesn't feel like I'm trying to catch a baseball with a dinner plate.

But there's another reason I wanted to develop a smaller handmade baseball glove.

My Desert Forge 11.5” isn't necessarily the best option for younger players who are transitioning into more serious baseball and beginning to develop their own preferences for glove size and feel.

If I look back at my own childhood, my dad did me a great service when I started playing travel baseball. He bought me a Japanese-made Wilson A2000 11.25” glove.

To this day, I can pick up that glove and immediately remember how much I loved the way it felt.

That experience stuck with me.

So I figured it was about time Mack Provisions offered something on a smaller platform. Something designed for young players moving into serious baseball, infielders who prefer a smaller glove, and older guys like me who still enjoy playing catch with a small glove.

Introducing the Mountain Ball 11”

The newest addition to the Mack Provisions lineup is the Mountain Ball 11”.

The name comes from a really common cactus found throughout the American Southwest: the Mountain Ball cactus, Pediocactus simpsonii.

It's a small, hardy, ball-shaped cactus native to high-elevation areas. Given its compact size and almost perfectly round shape, I thought it was a pretty fitting namesake for an 11” baseball glove.

And yes, living in northern Arizona definitely influences some of the things I make.

The Pattern

The Mountain Ball has a super-wide palm combined with a shortened, wraparound pocket.

The idea behind this combination is to create a glove that feels extremely quick in the hand. The shortened pocket is designed with quick transfers in mind, particularly for infielders turning a double play.

I also spent a considerable amount of time patterning the finger stalls.

I wanted the finger stalls to ride closer to the player's hand while still wrapping around the knuckles. The goal is a very form-fitting design that makes the glove feel less like something you're wearing and more like an extension of your hand.

That's something I've always chased when developing my gloves.

A baseball glove shouldn't just catch the ball. It should feel natural in your hand.

A Handmade Baseball Glove, Built in the USA

Like every Mack Provisions glove, the Mountain Ball is being developed and built by hand in my small shop in Arizona.

That's an important distinction.

I'm not producing thousands of gloves on an assembly line. I'm one person making these gloves, one at a time, here in the United States.

That means developing a new American-made baseball glove is a much bigger undertaking for me than it would be for a large manufacturer. Every new pattern requires time, materials, testing, and eventually tooling.

It also means that when you buy one of these gloves, you're not just buying another mass-produced baseball glove.

You're helping me build something from the ground up.

The Mountain Ball Pre-Order

The Mountain Ball 11” is currently available for pre-order, but there is a catch.

I need at least five pre-orders to justify the investment in the clicker dies required to produce this new glove pattern.

As I mentioned above, those dies are an important part of producing a consistent glove. They're also a significant investment for a one-person, American-made glove shop.

So, for the rest of September, the pre-order window will be open.

If I reach the five-glove minimum, I'll move forward with the clicker dies and begin production.

If I don't reach five orders, all pre-orders will be refunded and the Mountain Ball will have to take a back seat until I can justify making the investment.

In a way, this is a small crowd-funding campaign for a new handmade baseball glove.

It relies heavily on the customers who have supported Mack Provisions and believed in what I'm trying to build here.

So if you've been waiting for a smaller 11” American-made baseball glove, this is your chance to help bring it to life.

The Mountain Ball 11” is now available for pre-order.