With baseball season kicking up, the dreaded chore of cleaning your kid’s baseball uniform - or even your own - is a new addition to your to-do list. Baseball, softball, and T-ball uniforms present unique challenges when it comes to laundry day. Sure, the shirts can be easily cleaned like normal clothing, but the pants? Often the pants come in a neat, crisp white, which looks great until your kid slides in the mud to make it to the home plate. (Or, if your child is younger and easily distracted, plops down in the grass and experiments with digging holes while happily ignoring the game around them.)
Click here to learn how to clean a baseball cap!
So how do you remove those stains and make the pants white again?
Remove Loose Dirt, Sand, and Other Debris
Start by shaking the pants out to loosen up any stuck-on sheets or clods of clay or dirt. Then hang the pants up and use a stiff-bristled brush to get as much debris off as possible. Try to avoid brushing dirt onto still-clean parts of the pants while doing this. Once you have got this part done, remove the pants from the hanger and give them another shake. (You might want to do this outside to avoid a mess in your home.)
Pretreat Stained Areas on the Pants
You can use your preferred brand of clothing stain remover to do this. Or, if you like the idea of making your own stain remover, get a spray bottle and fill it with 1 part liquid dish soap and 2 parts hydrogen peroxide. Shake the bottle to mix the two, and spray on any stains you see. Use a liberal amount of the spray, soaking the stains thoroughly, then use your stiff-bristled brush to scrub the spray in deeper. You may want to do this process several times, and for deeper-set stains, turning the pants inside out can help you work the stains out better.
Let the Pretreatment Work
Put the pants down and take a 20 to 30-minute break so the solution can do its job. The longer you can let the pretreatment set, the more likely it is that the stains will break down.
Put gloves on before you do this next part to save them from chemical damage! Learn more here on what to do if your hands have been exposed to harsh cleaning products.
Give the Pants a Warm Bath
Fill your sink or tub with hot water and add in an oxygenated bleach cleaner, then mix them together. Put the pants in the water and make sure they stay submerged for 2 - 3 hours. If you don’t have that kind of time, use more of the bleach cleaner in the water and gently squeeze the pants yourself to push the cleaning solution into the fabric.
Rinse the Pants Off
Drain your tub or sink, then use running hot water to rinse the pants down. Once you’ve finished rinsing, squeeze excess water out of the pants.
Time to Wash the Pants
Throw the pants in your washing machine as soon as you're done rinsing them off (letting them dry beforehand might reset the stains). Only wash other white clothes with the pants, otherwise you risk colors running and creating new, more difficult-to-remove stains. Add a full cap-full of detergent to the wash along with a cup of distilled white vinegar for an extra boost of cleaning power. If your washer has a setting for heavily soiled clothing, use it. Some pants may need to be washed twice to really get the stains out.
Hang Dry the Pants
Don’t put those pants in the dryer - most baseball pants are made with a lot of polyester, sometimes 100%. While polyester is resistant to shrinkage in the dryer, it can still happen, resulting in the need to purchase new baseball pants and rendering all your hard work to clean this pair pointless.