My Glove & My First Post

[docbombay]

Hello


I just found you guys. Nice forum, lots of information.

Unfortunately, I do a search on my glove and come up empty.

It is a Mickey Mantle XPDH.

I am the original owner, I played with the glove though high school and college. I think the glove was given to me in either 1964 or 1965.

Here are a couple of pictures.






There just does not seem to be much information available about my glove.

[Bravosin99]

Hey there....I believe your glove is a XPG-H. I was able to purchase one not to long ago. When I purchased mine I was informed that this is a very rare model Mickey Mantle and is very desirable among glove collectors. I had people tell me mine was worth $1,000 or more. Great glove!! I am sure you will get some offers now that you posted just make sure you get what you deserve for the glove if you decide to sell it.

Josh

Here is a link to a previous post about the same glove we found.
http://www.vintagebaseballgloveforum.co ... antle+xpdh

[docbombay]

Bravosin99, You Are Right!

It is an XPGH, what looked like a D to me was a G.

No wonder I could find no information.

Thanks a bunch for helping me out.

A few years back I sent an email to a guy who was either buying or auctioning a Mantle glove and quizzed him about my glove. He gave me some information (that I now cannot find) and offered me five hundred bucks for the glove without even seeing pictures. So I figured it was worth something.

I recently got it out again (have been storing it in a file cabinet) to play catch with one of my grandchildren. It is amazing to me that even after all these years the glove is still "molded" to my hand. Instead of just putting it back after playing catch I decided to start trying to once again find some info about the glove. Can't believe I got the letters wrong, should have put some glasses on these sixty-one year old eyes!

You know, the glove got me thinking about days of long ago and all the time I spent playing the game. And I realized that I can not identify any other item from my high school days other then a couple of year books that I still have in my possession. This glove has traveled with me from the time I was a kid playing high school ball until the "kid" is a grandfather of five.

I knew the glove was special. It always has been. There was always some magic in the glove. During my playing days I was never much of a stick. But I could pick it and I was tall, skinny and fast. And when I would take one two inches off the grass or 24 inches over the wall, I knew it was never just all me. The glove was a magnet. It was magic.

There was never a need for me to write my name on the glove like so many of the other players. There was never another glove like mine. In all the years I played I never saw another model like it.

I think it was my second year of college that I really started to take care of the glove. It hadn't dawned on me until that time that I might not be able to replace it. I remember the local Rawlings representative telling me that it was no longer made at some event where we were looking at all the equipment for the new season. The thought of having to use a different model glove made me determined to make mine last at least through my college career. I had no idea it would last my entire life.

Well, like any old man who remembers long gone times of his youth, I ramble on.

It's just that getting the old glove out again brought back the game.

Funny thing about the game, somewhere inside of you it keeps you forever young.

[Old_Gloves_New]

"Funny thing about the game, somewhere inside of you it keeps you forever young."


How right you are sir, how right you are.

O_G_N

[awarsoca]

Welcome and great glove

[candlestick]

"Funny thing about the game, somewhere inside of you it keeps you forever young."


Great tag line. You out to put that at the bottom of your posts before someone else snags it!


Nice story thanks for sharing.

[softball66]

One doesn't see the rolled lace connector for the H Web on retail models too often. Remember that great Mickey Mantle Sport Cover magazine with Mantle's close up glove with the rolled lace vertical connect. Virtually all of the retail models used a flat 3/4 inch or so strap, where this has the more labor intensive rolled lace look.

[docbombay]

One doesn't see the rolled lace connector for the H Web on retail models too often.

I don't know if you could consider this a "retail" glove as it came directly from the Rawlings representative and was presented to me on a Saturday morning at Frank Feldhause Sporting Goods in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In those days there was a lot of "romancing" that took place with the equipment manufacturers regarding up and coming young ballplayers.

"You have the potential to make them forget all about Mickey Mantle" he told me that morning. Yeah right, and pigs will fly! I couldn't carry his bat bag but as a young man it sure makes you swoon and you never forget something like that.

So as far as being retail, I don't know, you guys are a better judge of that then me.

But from what you are telling me, it only helps the value of the glove I surmise.

[softball66]

Yes, I'd assumed that you just obtained the glove under normal circumstances, but from what you say, that's a most interesting acquisition.
What was the time period on your being given the glove? Do you remember the Rawlings rep and what were the circumstances of him "giving" you the glove?
Great story!

[docbombay]

Wow softball66, your asking a lot from this old memory. There are certain things I remember about that morning like it was yesterday and others, well, they have gone to the bullpen like so many other memories.

I do not remember the representative's name, but I do seem to remember he was from St. Louis as he was teasing me about the Cardinals besting the Reds. I think this took place during my junior year of high school so that would make it 1965. I was with a few teammates at Frank Feldhause Sporting goods picking out bats for the upcoming season. Feldhause was located on Brighton Corner, an intersection north of downtown Cincinnati. Feldhause had a "bat room" with just tons of bats. Frank was an elderly gentleman at that time and the business was actually being run by his son Ray. Another son named Tom was also in the business I seem to recall. But Frank and I really hit it off and I dearly loved that old man. He was such a kind old man and I listened to his stories about baseball and the old Negro leagues for hours on Saturday afternoons when I would visit the store.

Anyway, Frank motioned for me to come to his office while I was in the bat room and once there, I saw the Rawlings Rep. I had met this man a few times before and saw him at several of our games. He was always with the scouts. I keep thinking his name was "Hal" but I just can't remember. We were in there about a half hour I think and he told me he thought I had a very bright future in the game and filled my head with a lot of nonsense. He also said Rawlings wanted me playing with "their" equipment and that is when he presented me with the glove.

Of course I never made it big. But several from my high school over the years did so in a pretty big way. Among the list of ballplayers that followed me at Moeller High School in Cincinnati are: Buddy Bell, David Bell, Mike Bell, Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Hyzdu, Barry Larkin, Bill Long and Len Matuszek.

Another interesting note, I played in high school and college games at both Crosley Field and Riverfront Stadium before both were torn down. I have been thinking of taking the glove down to Great American Ballpark and seeing if I can talk Bernie Stow (Sr. Equipment Manager) into letting me on the field before a game so I can shag a few flies. That way I can say the glove has seen action at three of the Reds ballparks.

That just might make it one of a kind!:lol:

[BretMan]

Ahhhh...another Ohio guy and Reds fan!

I'm a lifelong Columbus resident. The first Major League game I ever attended was in Cincinnati in 1970- the first season of Riverfront Stadium.

As I type this, staring at me from across the computer stand are gloves endorsed by Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Davey Concepcion, Tony Perez, Johnny Bench, Don Gullett and George Foster.

Columbus has always been pretty much Reds territory, though the last decade or so the Indians have had a lot of people jump on their bandwagon. Winning games, making the playoffs and being in a couple of World Series will do that!

Now that Cleveland's triple-A affiliate is in Columbus, along with a spanking new downtown "retro" stadium, this part of the state is looking more and more like Tribe country!

[softball66]

Brother Glover Bret and I are lifelong Reds fans. Bret had it easier being
from nearby as I was and have been locked into the Dallas area all my life.
I do have a very good friend and Reds fanatic here in Todd who is from Hamilton, Ohio.
We've scored some great interviews with Frank Robinson, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and some older ones too.
My only time in Crosley field was as a 15 year old at a Cincinnati Reds
youth baseball clinic in 1955. My fellow Texan who was playing with the Reds then, Roy McMillan, looked me up and, through my uncle, who lived there I also got to shake hands with Big Klu. I later did a glove interview with Roy who had gone to school with my mother in law. Oh, my assigned
post in 1955 for infielders was Chuck Harmon on the field there.
Like Brett we've seen a few of the machine player gloves. I think I had all of the starters at one time but friend Todd has those. I had more than 125 total Reds player model gloves at one time. I've also sold off a few of the older ones including, I'm sad to say, a very early Hans Lobert model. But what a great time it was to collect them.
Wow, to be compared in the least with Mickey Mantle is a high tribute
indeed, then to get that great glove! I'm impressed!
Sports Collectors Digest is running a great series on Mantle memorabilia right now, among the hottest, if not the hottest collectibles, in
our hobby right now. No telling how much your distinctive glove is worth in light of this. I had the fortune to play two years of softball with Mickey Jr. and one special night all four of the Mantle boys showed up for a practice. That's probably a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
But, great thread here. And if you need a question answered about a
glove this is the right place and sorry I failed to mention J. D.'s sight before and Noah's fiine book, they are GREAT sources of glove info!
Joe P.

[docbombay]

Fun responses guys!!

In the spring of 1970 many of the players from the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University were hired to help finish up the lighting details for Riverfront before it opened.

The coaches got us these jobs and the pay was outrageous for what we did and of course all of us needed the money. My job along with two of my teammates was to nail aluminum pie plates to the Astroturf in designated areas. They then used the pie plates to aim the individual lights at that very spot. Primitive yes, but nobody ever heard of a laser back in those days!

I attended the very last game ever played at Crosley Field. We were given commemorative prints depicting old Crosley when you went through the turnstiles. They are still displayed at my mothers house and interestingly, she now lives in Dallas.

Roy Mac & Johnny Temple, what a double play combination. And Big Klu with those bulging muscles showing from those cut out sleeves, what a sight to behold! One of my favorite places to take a date was to Klu's Steakhouse on the Parkway! If he was there you could always get him to come over to your table and chat for a spell. What a true gentle giant of a man he was.

From the Reds of the fifties to the Big Red Machine days I have idolized them all. And to show what a small world it is, my older sister who lives in Connecticut tutors George Foster's kid.

Nice to see the Reds are mending open wounds with a lot of our hero's from the past. The Grand Marshal of the Findley Parade this year is Frank Robinson. The team has the pitching this year if Harang returns to form and the two kids come through. The wild card is Micah Owings as the fifth starter. Like his bat off the bench as a pinch hitter. Bullpen looks strong. Not much stick anywhere up and down the bench but hey, didn't get us anywhere the last few years when we could hit.

And one more question about my glove if you don't mind. The red Rawlings label on the back is in bad shape. Should I send it off and have a new one put on. I tend to leave things as they are as I just love original over restored, but that is just a small item. Any thoughts?

Last, I feel like a piker here with my "one glove" collection!

I took a better picture of the glove, here it is below. Let me know if you want any other views, but be warned, I'm not a very good photographer as you can easily see.

Doc

[quaz95]

i would keep it the way it is, you would have to do to much to it to fix, like new binding, i would even say it would be worth more if you where to sell, as is, nice stories, for a young man of 30 i am, i enjoyed your story. welcome aswell

john

[awarsoca]

great story, absolutely great story. And I'm with John, I wouldn't send it off for the repair.
Clint