What's New in BaseBall - (BBCOR)
(BBCOR)
Our baseball athletes are always looking to the future. They are training for their next game, drilling for the next level of performance and trying to find the perfect bat. We love that about them. It's time to get serious about BBCOR. This new standard measures bat performance and replaces the old standard called BESR. Starting in January 2011 for NCAA (college level) play and January 2012 for NFHS (high school level) play, all bats must be BBCOR certified. BESR (Ball Exit Speed Ratio) is no longer considered accurate enough to determine the actual performance of differing bat models. Instead of measuring the speed of the ball after it is batted, BBCOR measures the "bounciness" of the ball and bat, or the "trampoline" effect. Whenever a bat hits a ball during a game, the ball actually compresses by nearly a third.A pitched ball holds a lot of energy that you can see in the spin and speed of the ball. With solid wood bats, much of that energy is lost as the ball compresses at impact. The batted ball speed gets a lot of its energy from the bat. With hollow-core aluminum or composite bats, the thin walls "give" a little, and the ball distorts less and retains its pitched energy and adds to it the power of the bat speed. That's why non-wood bats hit balls faster. According to their own explanations of the new standard, both the NCAA and NFHS want all bats to have the same performance factors as the best wood bats. While it may still be cost effective to purchase aluminum or composite bats that will last longer than wood bats, it won't necessarily make you a better batter. You'll have to swing faster and more accurately to get the same hits as before. Adjusting to the new standards will certainly be difficult for some players, but the change will take the game back to its roots. Sports Specialties will continue to help improve your game by providing you with the most options and the best advice to accentuate your performance, especially when big changes like BBCOR happens in the equipment industry.
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GLOVE CARE FROM NOKONA
We suggest that you play catch and break-in your glove or mitt naturally. This will allow your glove to form a natural pocket. There are many different methods and "quick fixes" to shortcut the break-in period. Unfortunately, we've seen the sad results of many of these over the past half century.
Proper care will provide you longer use. Although many sophisticated leather care products are prevalent today, we still use the plain old petroleum jelly and have for over half a century. We swear by it, and we've seen the results of many touted oils. Recently, a warehouse find of 300, forty-year old unused gloves was discovered and many of these were Nokona's. Upon viewing and testing of all of the gloves, the Nokona's proved to be in far better shape than those of other companies, and we attribute this to our petrolatum or "NLT", the long tested Nokona pretreatment.
To best apply petroleum jelly, rub it into the leather with your bare hands. Work it into every area including the laces and inside the glove where cracking takes place. Unlike liquefied oils, petroleum jelly won't soak through to the padding. You can also clean your glove with a clean wiping cloth and petroleum jelly. Rub the surface vigorously and the petroleum will actually cause the dirt within the grain to rise up to the top where it will be picked up by the cloth.
Just as you would treat your skin when dry, retreat your glove as needed. It's a continuous process and do so with a liberal coat when you put your glove away for the season.
Here is a short list of recommended DON'Ts:
Proper care will provide you longer use. Although many sophisticated leather care products are prevalent today, we still use the plain old petroleum jelly and have for over half a century. We swear by it, and we've seen the results of many touted oils. Recently, a warehouse find of 300, forty-year old unused gloves was discovered and many of these were Nokona's. Upon viewing and testing of all of the gloves, the Nokona's proved to be in far better shape than those of other companies, and we attribute this to our petrolatum or "NLT", the long tested Nokona pretreatment.
To best apply petroleum jelly, rub it into the leather with your bare hands. Work it into every area including the laces and inside the glove where cracking takes place. Unlike liquefied oils, petroleum jelly won't soak through to the padding. You can also clean your glove with a clean wiping cloth and petroleum jelly. Rub the surface vigorously and the petroleum will actually cause the dirt within the grain to rise up to the top where it will be picked up by the cloth.
Just as you would treat your skin when dry, retreat your glove as needed. It's a continuous process and do so with a liberal coat when you put your glove away for the season.
Here is a short list of recommended DON'Ts:
- Do not soak in water! This negatively affects the interior padding and accelerates wear of the leather fibers.
- Do not use any type of oil or silicone that clogs the leather pores, sealing them and allowing dry rot to set into your ball glove.
- Do not apply heat to the leather. Leather is not intended to be cooked.
