How to Relace a Baseball Glove: A Step-by-Step Guide

Laces are the tendons of your glove. They hold the whole structure together — fingers, web, heel, binding — and they take a beating every single game. When they dry out, stretch, or snap, your glove goes from weapon to liability: floppy fingers, a collapsing web, a pocket that won't hold its shape. The good news? Relacing a baseball glove is one of the most satisfying repairs in the game, and you can do it yourself.

How to Tell Your Glove Needs Relacing

• Visible cracking or fraying on any lace, especially in the web and fingers.
• The web feels loose or shifts when you squeeze the glove.
• Fingers splay outward instead of holding their shape.
• A lace has snapped — obvious, but don't play on a broken lace. It stresses everything around it.
• The glove feels "tired" even though the leather is fine. Nine times out of ten, it's the laces, not the leather.

What You'll Need

• Replacement rawhide laces (3/16" is standard; match your glove's color or go custom).
• A lacing needle (or a thin awl) to pull laces through tight holes.
• Needle-nose pliers for the stubborn ones.
• Leather conditioner — a light coat on the new laces keeps them supple. (We use Glovecon, our partner's all-natural spray.)
• Patience. Your first relace takes an hour. Your third takes twenty minutes.

Step 1: Document Before You Cut

Take photos of the lacing pattern from every angle — especially the web, which is the most complex. Better yet, only remove and replace one lace at a time, using the old lace as your threading map. The web spiral is the part that humbles beginners. Respect it.

Step 2: Remove the Old Lace

Cut the knot and pull the old lace out, section by section. If a lace is merely stretched but intact, you can sometimes just tighten and re-knot — but if it's dry or cracked, replace it. Don't reuse dying leather.

Step 3: Thread the New Lace

Feed the new lace through with your lacing needle, following the exact path of the old one. Keep tension firm but not strangling — over-tightening warps the glove's shape. Work from the center outward on webs, and keep both sides even on fingers.

Step 4: Knot It Right

Finish with a square knot, pulled tight and seated flat against the leather. Trim the excess to about half an inch — long enough to hold, short enough not to flap. A drop of leather conditioner on the knot keeps it from drying out.

Step 5: Condition and Shape

Once relaced, give the new laces a light coat of conditioner, then put a ball in the pocket and wrap the glove overnight. The fresh laces need to learn the glove's shape, just like the leather did.

The Mistakes That Ruin a Relace

• Doing the whole glove at once. Remove everything and you'll be staring at a pile of leather with no map. One section at a time.
• Wrong lace thickness. Too thick and it won't fit the holes; too thin and it'll stretch out in a month. Match what came out.
• Over-tightening. A glove laced like a drum looks crisp and plays terrible. The leather needs to move.

The Ronin Standard: Free Relacing, For Life

Here's the truth: you never have to do this yourself. Every Ronin glove carries a lifetime lace warranty — send your glove in anytime and our craftsmen will relace it, free. No charge, no hassle, no YouTube tutorials at midnight before a tournament. We built the glove; we'll keep it battle-ready forever.

But if you're the DIY type? Now you know the way. Take your time, respect the pattern, and your glove will come back stronger than it went in.

THE RONIN WAY: maintain your weapon. Leather endures. Laces wear. The warrior who tends both never walks onto the field unarmed.

For the complete guide to glove construction, leather, and lifelong care, see our founder's book Beyond the Logo.