Introduction:
Tamara Rubin is an independent advocate for consumer goods safety and she is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children. She began testing consumer goods for toxicants in 2009 and was the parent-advocate responsible for finding Lead in the popular fidget spinner toys in 2017. She uses XRF testing (a scientific method used by the Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for contaminants including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury and Arsenic. To read more about the testing methodology employed for the test results reported on this blog, please click this link.
July 14, 2021 – Wednesday
XRF Test results for the 1983 Louisville Slugger Super Slugger II leather baseball glove pictured on this post:
#1.) Dark orange piping on edge of glove
(possibly vinyl trim) – 60 second test
- Lead (Pb): 7,210 +/- 72 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 840 +/- 68 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 3,712 +/- 84 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 120 +/- 18 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 109 +/- 11 ppm
- Antimony (Sb): 72 +/- 8 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 298 +/- 23 ppm
- Chlorine (Cl): 360,000 ppm
#2.) Horizontal straps of “ball net” part of glove
Leather – 60 second test
- Lead (Pb): 4 +/- 2 ppm
- Mercury (Hg): 10 +/- 3 ppm
- Bromine (Br): 12 +/- 1 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 15,900 +/- 100 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 748 +/- 24 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 47 +/- 6 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 265 +/- 7 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 94 +/- 34 ppm
#3.) Fingers of glove – main part of glove
Leather – 60 second test
- Lead (Pb): 661 +/- 10 ppm
- Mercury (Hg): 7 +/- 3 ppm
- Bromine (Br): 57 +/- 2 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 15,300 +/- 100 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 188 +/- 15 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 107 +/- 7 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 116 +/- 5 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 59 +/- 32 ppm
#4.) Rawhide stitching
Leather – 60 second test
- Lead (Pb): 1,204 +/- 14 ppm
- Cadmium (Cd): 19 +/- 4 ppm
- Bromine (Br): 44 +/- 2 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 2,784 +/- 48 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 658 +/- 18 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 134 +/- 6 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 29 +/- 3 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 371 +/- 45 ppm
#5.) Inside of the glove (where the child’s hand goes)
Leather – 60 second test
note: second reading of inside did not show trace Arsenic above 4 ppm (further testing for arsenic is warranted).
- Lead (Pb): 45 +/- 3 ppm
- Mercury (Hg): 7 +/- 3 ppm
- Bromine (Br): 38 +/- 2 ppm
- Chromium (Cr): 11,700 +/- 100 ppm
- Iron (Fe): 980 +/- 26 ppm
- Nickel (Ni): 22 +/- 6 ppm
- Copper (Cu): 188 +/- 8 ppm
- Zinc (Zn): 299 +/- 8 ppm
- Arsenic (As): 6 +/- 2 ppm
- Titanium (Ti): 128 +/- 65 ppm
- Barium (Ba): 86 +/- 34 ppm
How much Lead is “too much” Lead?
For context, the amount of Lead that is considered unsafe in an item intended for use by children is anything 90 ppm Lead or higher in the paint, glaze or coating of an item or anything 100 ppm Lead or higher in the substrate. Vintage baseball gloves often have unsafe levels of Lead. [What is vintage? What’s antique? How do I know the difference?] New baseball gloves (especially those expressly sold as items intended for use by children) should be Lead-free in all components. Please do not let your children use vintage ball gloves, purchase a new one instead. Here’s an affiliate link to a new ball glove that should be Lead-free: https://amzn.to/3z2Nd4D
Some additional reading that may be of interest:
- What can I test with a home test kit?
- Can I send you an item to test?
- How to use this website to search for products you have in your home (video).
As always, thank you for reading and for sharing these posts. Please let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer them personally as soon as I have a moment.
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
*Amazon links are affiliate links. If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links I may receive a small percentage of what you spend – at no extra cost to you!
Kara says
Thank you! My kiddo was using my old baseball glove from when I was a kid. It is definitely vintage but not quite antique 😉 Because it is leather, lead would have never crossed my mind! Wish I had stumbled on this post in April at the beginning of the season but better late than never. That’s how this lead stuff seems to work with us! Again thank you for the revelation!
Tamara says
Thank you – glad you found it!
I believe this glove is only from 1983. I am not sure what year they stopped using Lead to tan / color / preserve the leather. I have to test more to figure that one out!
Tamara
Miranda says
I just bought my six-year-old son a new Rawlings leather baseball glove for his upcoming season. The tag has a Prop 65 warning label. Does that mean that they’re still using lead to tan the leather? Or some other cancer causing chemical is present, not necessarily lead?
Tamara says
Generally Chromium in the modern gloves / leather products.