Colorful and Smaller – Baseball Equipment for Girls Only
Thanks to the increase of women baseball players in Japan, there is a sign of a new trend in baseball equipment. MIZUNO, a sporting goods giant, started accepting orders of women’s baseball gloves in 2013 and now sells colorful gloves and bats on the store shelves.
The wrist part of glove is narrow to fit for a small hand of women players who can choose gloves with various combinations of colors, red/white etc. or putting an emblem such as heart. MIZUNO started selling women’s bats in March, 2014. The basic colors are either red or pink and weighs 810 to 820 grams equivalent to 15U with a thin grip for easy bat swings.
Most girls start playing baseball with the boys at primary school emulating fathers or brothers and use boys’ equipment. Girls who want to continue to play baseball in high school had to live with boys’ equipment because colorful gears are banned at high school baseball.
MIZUNO Osaka store’s sales staff says many girl players now begin to realize they can choose what they want.
(Approximate translation of the Yomiuri Shimbun dated January 6, 2015)
