What to Consider When Choosing Fastpitch Softball Equipment


Before purchasing your Fastpitch softball equipment, here are some tips to consider before making your final selections.

Most companies now are really concentrating on the growing popularity of the game of Fastpitch softball. They have dedicated a great deal of research and development into the proper fit and the demands of the female athlete. In many of the top vendors, such as Mizuno, Easton, Louisville, Ringor and Schutt they have sections of their inventory dedicated specifically to female athletes.

Selecting fastpitch softball bats is pretty straightforward. All bats legal for fastpitch play must be stamped with an official softball on the bat. The one thing to keep in mind is if the bat is a slow-pitch or fastpitch bat. Most but not all slow-pitch bats are legal in fastpitch play, but must have an ASA stamp on the bat.

Choosing catchers gear in the past was simple because the vendors did not make female specific catchers gear. Today you have a wide variety of choices from manufactures who make catchers gear specifically for fastpitch softball. The cut and fit is designed to properly fit a female frame. Keep in mind when looking for gear for your girl’s team.

When looking for fielding gloves the same is true. Top manufactures like Mizuno, Glovesmith, Louisville Slugger, and Rawlings make female specific gloves in their choices. Typically the gloves are a little larger to accommodate a larger ball than a baseball. The pocket and web of these gloves are usually deeper and wider than a baseball glove. The fingerstalls are narrower and shorter to help fit the smaller hand of females. The size range on these gloves usually ranges from 12"-13.5". Most manufactures try to put an adjustable strap on these specific gloves to allow the athlete to fit the glove down on their wrist for a secure fit. Female athletes can keep this choice in mind when selecting a fastpitch fielding glove.

Making a choice on new bating gloves is very similar to a fielding glove. If you are having trouble finding batting glove, the finger stalls and wrist opening are smaller to fit a female hand better.

A few companies Mizuno, Ringor, make female specific softball shoes. These shoes are not as wide as a unisex. Shoes and are developed by top female Olympic athletes to fit and perform to the demands of fastpitch softball players at all levels.

Keep in mind that you have choices when you are getting ready to make purchases for your female athletes. In today’s market you have a wide variety of choices from different companies that will accommodate your needs. The fit and performance is worth the time spent in choosing the right equipment.

What American doesn’t love a great game of baseball? When you pair the world’s greatest game with one of the world’s greatest cities you come away with the New York Yankees. The New York Yankees are well known as they have consistently had big names on their team as well as many of the winning streaks of the ages. The Yankees go back 100 years, a time that many of us aren’t familiar with, unless we look back at New York Yankees baseball cards.

Are you a baseball fan that assumes that Yankees baseball cards are for kids and not something that you would consider taking a peak at? It doesn’t matter what your age, you are never too young or too old to appreciate a great team and the Yankees cards that represent some of the most fantastic baseball players the game has ever seen. Think about it, the Yankees baseball cards for Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, and more are out there and many of them are worth quite a bit of money. If you love to collect things and you simply want to gain more knowledge about the history of the team then baseball cards is a great way to do it because there is a lot of information about each player on the back of the card.

Are you just getting into collecting New York Yankees cards and you assume that this is a relatively new collector’s hobby? Don’t kid yourself! Chances are your grandparents and perhaps even your great grandparents could collect these tidbits of baseball trivia as they were packaged with caramel as well as tobacco as early as the late 19th century. While they started out as a freebie with candy or tobacco they have taken on a life of their own, with collectors buying whole seasons worth of baseball cards at one time—and not for just one team, either!

The New York Yankees cards are a lot of fun to collect because they are generally quite valuable, more so as you go back in time. Because so many baseball greats were on this team, leading them to 26 World Series Championships, there are many players from this legendary team that are worth a whole lot of money, the pride of the collectors that have them and yet they are very rare.

There are many ways that you can begin to collect the baseball cards of this legendary team. The easiest cards to get will be from this year or last and as you go back in time it might get a bit more difficult to find the more popular players. That’s what is fun about collecting these cards; the search! Of course, when the search ends you have to have the funds to bring the card home, too! This is a hobby for the young and the old and might even serve as a baseball history lesson as well.

Baseball is woven into the fabric of American society; it’s simply a part of what we do. Children as young as four and five are getting behind home plate and swinging their bats for the first time and mothers and fathers are decorating nurseries with baseballs, gloves and bats. It doesn’t matter where you go in the United States; you are never too far away from a great baseball game or a small corner shop that sells baseball cards.

To some there is a baseball season, but when you think about it baseball is always in season. Baseball is a fan’s sport and many of them are constantly collecting memorabilia, clothing, and baseball cards of their favorite players or teams. Many don’t think about how lucrative this business really is, but it is making billions of dollars all year around, not just from the first day of the season to the last swing of the World Series. Shirts, hats, bumper stickers, sweatshirts, jerseys, and jackets are all a great way to show your loyalty to your favorite baseball team.

Many of the older generations of Americans are very familiar with baseball card collecting. You may think that this type of collecting is a thing of the past, but it is anything but that. Think about it, all of those old New York Yankees baseball cards that you wanted to find as a child are still out there, and they are only more valuable. While past generations got their cards from caramel, tobacco, or gum these days generations are buying whole teams, leagues, and seasons at a time. While the way that baseball cards are collected may have changed a bit the hobby is still alive and well and being enjoyed by people of all ages. This is a great hobby for parents and grandparents to pass onto their children and grandchildren as it will allow them to spend time together and share a passion.

Of course, there are still those cards that everyone wants to come across, such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe Dimaggio, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and so many of the great New York Yankees that allowed the team to experience a whopping 26 World Series wins. Young and old collectors of today are still looking for those seemingly out of reach baseball cards along with some of the newer players, like Derek Jeter and others, that are keeping baseball the integral part of our society that it has always been. Today some of the more exciting cards can be found on the Internet through wonderful bidding websites and more.

While the active rosters of every baseball team will invariably change there is still something enchanting about the sport. Whether you watch the game from home on your television or those perfect box seats on the third base line, there simply is something great about watching your favorite team get out there and hit the ball. Baseball is a great game whether you are playing or watching, so it simply makes sense that we collect items like clothing and cards, to commemorate our favorite players past and present.