While baseball isn’t a contact sport, players are more likely to dirty up their clothes. Players get dirt on them from diving for balls on the infield or sliding into a base. They also get plenty of grass stains from sliding around in the outfield or making crazy diving catches. This becomes particularly problematic for players because most them wear white pants on gameday. So how do you clean your white baseball pants when they get so dirty on a game to game basis? This is the best ways to keep your pants looking bright and clean.
Materials
Depending on the stain that you are trying to remove, there are many supplies that you will need to properly treat them. Some of the materials that you will need include:
- Stiff brush
- Sink sprayer or hose
- Heavy-duty laundry detergent
- Enzyme laundry additive
- Color-safe bleach
- Chlorine bleach
- White vinegar
- Table salt
How To Clean White Baseball Pants
Via pebblekeeper.com
While there are many methods that can be used to clean baseball pants, there are key steps that everyone looking to have fresh pants should follow. These are the crucial steps that you should follow to get the cleanest baseball pants possible:
1. Remove Excess Dirt
If you recently played a game that was on a wet field, not only will your pants be stained but they could also have clumps of dirt and grass on them. If shaking off the pants doesn’t remove everything, try using a hose to remove clumps that are stuck. The first thing that should be done is to take your pants outside and shake them out so all the dirt and grass particles are removed.
2. Determine Stain Type
Now that the pants only have stains on them, the next step is to determine what type of stain you are trying to remove. This is important because different stains will have treatment types. For example, if the stain was made from dirt or blood, it needs to be treated as a protein stain. If the stain comes from clay or grass, it should be treated as a dye stain.
3. Pre-Treat Protein Stain
After determining the stain that you are trying to remove, the next step is to begin treating the stain. If you are dealing with a protein stain, your first step should be to rinse the pants under cold water. If it is a new stain, cold water may remove it by itself. If the stain remains, however, rinse the pants in cold water with an added laundry detergent.
4. Pre-Treat Dye Stain
If you have found that you are trying to remove a dye stain, you should take a laundry detergent and pour a small amount directly onto the stain and gently rubbing the fabric. After this, rinse and soak the pants in cold water with color-safe bleach. If this does not appear to be working effectively, you can try using chlorine based bleach, just make sure that the bleach will not affect any color trim that may be on the pants.
5. Pre-Treat Clay Stain
Stains that are caused by red clay have a special process that they should undergo. If you are dealing with this type of stain, the most effective way to remove it is to create a paste of table salt and white vinegar. Then apply this paste onto the stain and let it sit for 30 minutes.
6. Rinse In Cold Water
No matter what stain it is that you have pre-treated, the next step is to rinse the pants under cold water. This should remove a large portion of the stain, if not all of it. If the stain persists, however, go through the specific stain’s pre-treatment again and repeat the process.
7. Wash
The final step of the process is to wash the pants in warm water with a heavy-duty laundry detergent. Add chlorine free bleach if the pants are all white but if they have color, it is safer to use the color-safe bleach. After this process, your white baseball pants should end up looking just as new as the first day that you put them on. If the stain remains after washing them, repeat the entire process again to remove the stain.
It can be difficult to picture how this process works so if you would rather have a visual perspective on how to clean your baseball pants, check out this video, broken into part one
and part two.
Tips & Warnings
Via pebblekeeper.com
The biggest tip that you could use when trying to remove stains is to do so in a timely manner. The sooner that you can remove a stain, the easier it is going to be to get out. So, for baseball players, you will likely want to begin treating your pants immediately after your game to ensure that the stains will be removed.
One thing that you do not want to do to your pants is to rub or scrape the stain too hard. Not only could this ingrain the stain in your pants, making it harder to remove, it can also cause wear in the fibers that make it more likely for cuts and rips to occur in the pants themselves. Instead of rubbing, it may be better to simply dab or blot the stain.
Conclusion
Overall, this process is the best way in order to keep your baseball pants looking white. The extensive pre-treatment of the stains allows them to be removed or strongly faded before they are even put into the washer. The suggestions of how to treat specific stains also ensure that you will be prepared to treat any stain that plague your pants. Do you think that this is the best way to treat baseball pants and make sure that they stay white? Do you have your own method that you believe works just as well? Feel free to comment below telling us what you think.