White baseball pants are like magnets for stains.

I’ve had kids in baseball since 2016 so I’ve spent a lot of hours washing white baseball pants that have been stained by dirt, grass, nacho cheese, and slushies.

I’ve tried everything under the sun to get the stains out and had little success until the past couple of years.

Some people prefer not to care and just live with the stains, or buy new pants. No judgement from me- do what is best for you. Personally, I took on these stains as a challenge to see if I could find a stain fighting solution that actually works. Much like I learned to grow plants by trial and error on repeat and nursing over water plants back to health, I find great joy in battling a stain and feeling successful when I pull the white baseball pants from the laundry to have them look brand new.

Last year I had a regimen of hot water soak in oxy-clean powder. Remove and rub with Fels Naptha soap. This worked some of the time- but not on tougher stains.

This year I’ve finally found something that REALLY works!!! And I never would have predicted it in a million years.

The stain fighting answer is…

LIQUID DISH SOAP!

Can you believe it?! Incase you’re skeptical here is my new routine. Try it for yourself and let me know how it works for you.

Step 1:

Get stains wet

step 2:

Apply a drop of dish soap to each stain

Step 3:

Use a small bristle brush to gently work soap into stain. I scrub in all directions to get the soap into the fibers of the pants.

Be careful:

Using too much force and elbow grease can potentially create tears and holes over time. So don’t destroy the fabric with the brush.

Step 4: [optional]

Soak pants in bucket of hot water and powdered oxy-clean for 60+ minutes

Step 5:

Wash in washing machine

step 6:

After wash inspect pants to see if stain removal was a success. If stains have lingered I repeat steps 1-3 BEFORE drying. Or I might wet the stain again and use liquid oxy-clean and brush.