Rawlings GJ54 Mike Schmidt

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Rawlings GJ54 Mike Schmidt

Postby mittmutt » February 13th, 2008, 2:15 am

I can't find this glove listed in the catalog resource book. It has a bellows web and appears to be better than average quality. Can anyone tell me where to find more info on this glove?
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Postby BretMan » February 13th, 2008, 9:20 am

I hate to guess about glove history. But when you can't find any data, that is your only choice. You can only hope to come up with an educated guess.

It's probably safe to say that this glove is from between 1974 and 1979. Not going too far out on a limb for that guess. 1974 was Schmidt's breakout season (All-Star and MVP candidate) after having played one partial season (1972, 13 games as a late season call-up) and one mediocre rookie year (1973, 132 games, .196 B.A, fair power numbers.).

By 1980, the "GJ" designation was pretty much gone from Rawlings model numbers (though the catalog lists one such glove that year). This was the year that they began their "RBG" model numbers on most of their mid-level, player-endorsed gloves.

The first Schmidt glove that appears in the catalogs was the XFG-15 in 1976. The last is 1983 and he must have signed his endorsement deal with Franklin after that.

Okay, that's the "educated" part- now for some guesses:

- Maybe the glove was rushed into production in '74-'76, to capitalize on Schmidt's quickly rising fame. From 1974 to 1976 there were plenty of gloves with similar model numbers (GJ52, GJ57, GJ59). By 1977, there were no other "GJ50-series" gloves listed.

- Possibly this was a glove made for sale through retail outlets other than sporting goods stores. There are plenty of examples of those that turn up and none of them are in the catalogs. (Isn't there a Schmidt "KM"/K-Mart model?).

The best bet for nailing down a year on this would probably be matching it up with one of the other "bellows web" gloves from the same era. This is likely to be an identical glove in all other respects, just stamped with a different player endorsement.

Sounds like a cool glove. I'm always looking for a nice Schmidt model to add to my collection, but most that turn up are rather cheaply made or kid-sized gloves.
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Re: Rawlings GJ54 Mike Schmidt

Postby mikesglove » July 15th, 2018, 1:16 pm

Model GJ 54. Better than average quality import, leather piping.
schmi.jpg
schnn.jpg


Model KM 10. Made in USA for K-Mart. A quality glove, leather piping.
Vintage-Rawlings-KM10-Mike-Schmidt-Baseball-Glove-Left-_57.jpg
Vintage-Rawlings-KM10-Mike-Schmidt-Baseball-Glove-Left.jpg
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