Glove with protective insert

Abstract

A glove with a protective insert is disclosed. The protective insert can be a hard piece of plastic and can be disposed within the rear ply of a baseball or softball glove. The protective insert can prevent injury to a user's hand when the user attempts to tag out a base runner on the opposing team. The protective insert can also prevent a user's finger from bending backwards when that user catches a hard-thrown ball outside the center section of the glove. A glove can have one or more protective inserts. The glove can have only one protective insert to protect a user's thumb, or can have multiple inserts to protect the thumb and one or more fingers.

1 . A ball glove comprising:
 a rear ply having an interior layer and an exterior layer;   a thumb stall at least partially defined by the rear ply; and   a protective insert disposed at least partially between the interior layer and the exterior layer of the rear ply.   
     
     
         2 . The ball glove of  claim 1 , the insert comprising a plurality of apertures. 
     
     
         3 . The ball glove of  claim 2  further comprising a thumb loop, and wherein a strap of the thumb loop passes through at least one aperture of the plurality of apertures of the insert. 
     
     
         4 . The ball glove of  claim 2 , the insert further comprising a separator section disposed between two apertures of the plurality of apertures of the insert. 
     
     
         5 . The ball glove of  claim 1  further comprising a thumb loop, and wherein the insert comprises four apertures, the ball glove configured such that a strap of the thumb loop can be inserted through a plurality of the four apertures to provide a user with a plurality of thumb loop arrangement options. 
     
     
         6 . The ball glove of  claim 1 , the insert comprising a knuckle cover, the knuckle cover being wider than the remainder of the insert. 
     
     
         7 . The ball glove of  claim 1 , the insert comprising an arc-shaped cross section. 
     
     
         8 . The ball glove of  claim 1 , the insert comprising rounded corners and rounded edges. 
     
     
         9 . The ball glove of  claim 1 , the insert comprising a rough outer surface. 
     
     
         10 . The ball glove of  claim 1 , the insert comprising hard plastic. 
     
     
         11 . The ball glove of  claim 1 , the insert comprising a left side and a right side that are substantially mirror images of each other. 
     
     
         12 . A protective insert configured for use with a ball glove, the insert having a substantially arc-shaped cross section, and wherein the insert is configured to be disposed at least partially within a rear ply of the ball glove. 
     
     
         13 . The insert of  claim 12 , the insert comprising a plurality of apertures. 
     
     
         14 . The insert of  claim 12 , the insert comprising a front pair of apertures and a back pair of apertures. 
     
     
         15 . The insert of  claim 12 , the insert comprising polyethylene. 
     
     
         16 . The insert of  claim 12 , the arc-shaped cross section varying in size along a length of the insert. 
     
     
         17 . The insert of  claim 12 , the insert having a thickness of about 2 mm. 
     
     
         18 . A ball glove comprising:
 a stall configured to accept at least one of a user's thumb and finger;   a rear ply at least partially defining the stall;   a protective insert having a substantially arc-shaped cross section, the insert disposed around at least a portion of the stall.   
     
     
         19 . The ball glove of  claim 18 , the insert separated from an area outside the glove by an exterior layer of the rear ply. 
     
     
         20 . The ball glove of  claim 18  further comprising a thumb loop, and wherein the insert comprises a plurality of apertures, the ball glove configured such that a strap of the thumb loop passes through at least one of the plurality of apertures.