Leather
 

Who here uses patent leather and who uses regular leather for their belt and shoes?

Dressing the game
 

Patent shoes and belt. Shouldn't mix and match. Never a leather belt.

That;s just me

And,
 

I would never be caught dead wearing patent leather anything.

Regards,

Patent leather belt for me, and regular leather shoes. I would never even consider purchasing leather ball bags.

Liked to wear patent leather belts. They look very sharp. Also liked navy blue leather belts from Mizuno Japan. Always kept my leather shoes as shiny as patent with various formulas, such as Shape-Up, or with Kiwi Parade Gloss and elbow grease.

Ditto.

Was told I had to wear a patent leather belt last year, new assignor this year, belt is being put in the bag and kept there.

i used to have a patent leather belt but i got away from that. never had patent leather shoes -- always regular leather but taken care of and always shined.
im a regular leather guy all around now.

I've had a patent leather belt for about 5 years now. I am debating about whether to use it or not this year . I may get a new traditional leather belt and use the patent as a backup.

I now have patent leather shoes (GD). It was not my intention but after my previous pair of plate shoes started to wear out, I couldn't find anything that I really liked fit wise. Not having to polish them is nice, but I did have a nick in them after only about 5 plate jobs and I had to break out the leather luster to get it "fixed". Not as easy as covering a traditional leather scratch. I would have much preferred to get the GD's in traditional leather.

Lawrence

The last time I wore patent leather shoes and belt (the color of both was white) was on the golf course in the 1970's. :D

I like well shined shoes for umpiring (both baseball and fastpitch softball) and officiating basketball. Two weeks ago I officiated a basketball game and my partner also umpires college baseball. He wore patent leather shoes and belted slacks (western cut pockets) with a black patent leather belt. He looked terrible.

MTD, Sr.

I've got both the belt and plate shoes in patent leather. I like the shoes, the belt is just okay. I like to change things up a lot, and a few of my partners roll with vans full of everything except a base coat. Gotta be prepared.

For those that pooh-pooh patent leather, yet still continue to use navy ball bags, well........

Got it!
http://www.losanjealous.com/img/vill...ge_people1.jpg

In the Navy.....

why do some of you guys swear off patent leather?

Well,
 

I think it is a terrible design idea (much like the Edsel).

Taking fashion advice from MLB umpires lead to the NL "Disco" style of collars outside coat lapels. This is the same idea.

Patent Leather looks fine on MaryJanes but not umpire equipment.

Regards,

damn. it was only a matter of time before my real identity came out.

I think it's great for Marine parade dress, I just don't feel it belongs on a baseball field.

I like those dark pants with every top combo, except blue shirts and jackets.

Heather grey for me.

Heather for HS, dark for college

I just got the darker plate pants for this season and I'm super stoked about them...they certainly don't give them away, but they seem to be better quality than the heather gray ones...JMO

Leather
 

I own nothing in patent leather.

Patent leather shoes and belt for plate.
Regular leather shoes and belt for bases.
I need a new regular leather belt before the HS season begins in March.
I will probably go with the 1 3/4" from Honigs, but $20 for a belt just seems wrong.
In southern Illinois, sometimes that is half a game fee.

What does one have to do with the other?

No matter what - sometimes it's a personal preference, sometimes it's what you can find at the time you need to replace.

~Sigh~
 

"Originally Posted by kylejt

"For those that pooh-pooh patent leather, yet still continue to use navy ball bags, well........ "


I do not own any navy ball bags.

Regards,

I must protest
 

I use a Patent Leather belt, and I use shoes well finished with Leather Luster. And yes, I use Navy Ball bags too. To make things even worse, I picked up a couple of Honigs Leather ball bags this year, and I will use them at least once.

I like the look and easy care of the patent leather stuff, and the leather ball bags seem to handle a lot of baseballs without flopping all over the place. I also have ump-attire and Carlucci bags, and they don't work as well as the leather ones, which surprise me no end. There has not been a good bag made since the Kangaroo Bags of the 1980's, and I still own one, but it is shot, and I have not found one that works as good ever since. Since Honig's is selling them for $5 each, I decided to try them. I stuffed five or six baseballs in one, and they did not lose shape badly, nor stick out like even the ump-attire bags do. And my ump-attire bags are only 2 years old, and they are faded like mad. They just did not last well.

I can understand those who don't like the patent leather look, but clean up is easy on the shoes, the patent leather does not stain my clothes like regular leather belts do, since I sweat a lot, and I like the look. With some of the dusty and dirty fields I work on, it got to the point I was polishing shoes every night, and going through top quality polish like nobody's business. Now, it's one can of Pledge a season, and a can of Leather Luster every two or three years.

Sadly, even Leather Luster does not seem to work with the leather shoes I officiate wrestling in, being on the mat so much wear the Leather Luster off the toes quickly, so it may be back to polish every night. Oh well.....

my state requires navy ball bags to be worn. however in the summer when i'm permitted to wear black and creme shirts, i wear a black hat and ball bags with them

Same here. One or our college associations does require high gloss belts and dark pants (Honigs polywool or Davis). The assigner equates high gloss = patent leather. Choice is patent belt or no games.

Very similar here. May be a regional thing. If your belt doesn't shine, you look terrible IMO. Either shine up your leather belt to a brilliant gloss (i.e., hard work) or wear patent leather belt (much easier). A dull belt gets a lower rating here.

Thanks for the responses. I asked this because I wear regular leather, yet when I see college and MiLB umps in my area, the vast majority of them have patent leather. I just wondered what you all thought about the two...

I agree. Takes me back to high school days - hated it then and hate it now.

Thansk
David

Inconsequential

Lets see patent leather vs. leather. After 5 minutes on a dusty field can't tell the difference anyways so who cares. I use patent leather easy clean up after the game. A couple of squirts of water and your good to go.