Business Notes SPORTING GOODS

Ever notice how some North American baseball fielders seem to have gloves as big as bushel baskets? Not for long. This season major-league baseball plans to enforce an old rule, previously ignored, that bans any glove larger than 12 in. from heel to tip. The clampdown has sent glovemakers hustling to redesign mitts, some of which exceed 14 in.

St. Louis-based Rawlings, which supplies more than half of all big-league mitts, believes it has beaten such rivals as Wilson and Mizuno to home plate. "We were in a much better position to respond quickly. We had new designs and new cutting dies within a month," claims Scott Smith, spokesman for Rawlings, the only glovemaker with a factory in the U.S. "There was a lot of initial resistance to the announcement from our competition. If they haven't satisfied the new requirements, we'll get more of the business." Glovemakers give big leaguers the mitts for free, but sandlot players have to pay $150.