Baseball and softball crescents

[s_esco]

I have a question for all you vintage glove collectors. Why are baseball crescent gloves so collectible , while softball crescents can barely be given away? I have seen the same brand of glove, with almost the same glove design, in a crescent, but says Softball or Official Softball, and it goes almost unnoticed. Is it because it wasn't associated with the Major Leagues? Your thoughts!!!

[BretMan]

The true "cresent pad" baseball gloves are much more rare. They were issued around the turn of the century, in the very early days of the first baseball gloves. Fewer were made and fewer have survived through the years.

Softball gloves with "external padding" didn't come along until the 1930's. The first official softball rules were published in 1933 by the Amateur Softball Association and it wasn't until after that point that sporting goods makers began selling and marketing softball-specific equipment. Softball gloves with this style of padding were made right up until the 1950's. As this was an era where mass-production and marketing were becoming the norm, many more were made and many more are still around today.

Frankly, I've always been a little puzzled as to why softball gloves borrowed this early padding design, while baseball gloves quit using it some 20-30 years earlier. If that style of padding was an advantage to fielding or catching the ball, you would think that the design would have seen continued use on baseball gloves. Perhaps this unique style was mainly used to differentiate the products, as an attempt to create a separate market niche for softball equipment.

Aside from the age and historical significance, softball gloves are generally less sought after by collectors. Often they were made from thinner leather or cheaper materials, and not as well-constructed as higher-end baseball gloves of the day.

[s_esco]

Bretman, Thank you for the great info. I didn't realize that softball gloves were made of thinner leather. The Nokona gloves always seemed so well built and soft to me. Again, thank you.

[softball66]

Bret has good info.
But don't confuse the eras of softball. People playing in the 1930s were actually using a "SOFT" ball, not the hard type that was later developed.
Softball has gone thru several evolutions from the old casual original game.
The crescents used in the 1930s and '40s softball gloves and mitts were designed I believe to aid in catching the larger ball (larger than a baseball)
so that might have been the design intent with these. And, you will notice,
that they are straight exterior padding up and down or sideways and not
normally in crescents like the 1890s gloves which probably were utilizing the same idea of keeping the ball in the pocket.
Now as the softball game grew (mainly around the popularity of fast pitch softball in the 1940s and '50s) the raised padding idea was dropped and gradually the manufacturers began making larger and better leather gloves.
About the mid 1970s, slow pitch softball became the craze and much bigger, 13 and 14" inch gloves came into being and were made with top quality designs and leather, such as the Nokonas.
I joined Nocona as a consultant in the mid 1970s and helped and encouraged them to take advantage of the new slow pitch boom which they did and it immensely supported the company, as it captured new markets.

[s_esco]

Joe, Thank you for taking the time to also answer back. I think you both answered my question. Great information and much appreciated.