Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

1. A Moose Skowron glove with stamped 'T.M.C.' and 'Quality Sporting Goods',
plus the number 241 on the palm of the glove.
It looks to be a first baseman's glove and it is signed in blue ink by Mr. Skowron himself on the outside thumb.
2. A small (little league?) Ralph Kiner glove that is stamped 'Jim Dandy' and the number '714'...it has the disconnected, nonlaced fingers and perhaps a two ince web.
Words of wisdom concerning these gloves is appreciated!
thanks,
james

Both those are "off-brand" glove makers and not much is available in the way of historical data.

As for a date on these, you pretty much have to go by the playing dates of the players endorsing them. Most TMC gloves seem to date from around 1960 and up. The Jim Dandy glove is likely from the early-to-mid 1950's. Anything after that almost guarantees the fingers will be laced together.

TMC seemed to come and go pretty fast. My recollection is that some of these are imported gloves, produced overseas. Is there a country of origin labeled on the glove? Moose Skowron endorsed gloves are considered to be "common" or in "surplus" supply. Book value for one in average condition is $25. If the hand-signed autograph is authentic, that might bump it up a bit.

Jim Dandy brand gloves I've run across before. Kiner-endorsed gloves are also considered easy to come by. Average condition Kiner gloves book for $20. The fact that yours seems to be a small, inexpensive child-sized glove would tend to keep the value down.

Hope that helps. These are both gloves from makers that there really isn't a whole lot of information for.

Thanks very much Brett for the info.
i wonder where one goes to research defunct glove manufacturers or manufacturers in general.
How does that Kozel guy that has a column on antiques always seem to have historical answers about companies histories?
I wonder how he does it and how i could do it?
james

There are several good reference books that I consider essential to the glove collecting hobby.

"The Vintage Baseball Glove Catalog Source Book" collects data from hundreds of sporting goods catalogs, some dating back to the late 1800's. The latest edition has data on over 26,000 glove models from over 500 catalogs.

While the historical record for many of the larger companies (such as Rawlings or Wilson) is nearly complete, much of the information on some of the smaller, more obscure, glove makers has been lost to time.

This book is published by Joe Phillips, and can be purchased through his web site ( http://www.glovecollector.com/ ) or through eBay. Joe is a longtime collector who really got the hobby rolling in the early years, and is also a frequent poster on this board under the user name "softball66".

Joe also publishes a couple of other glove collecting guides- "The Vintage Baseball Glove Pocket Price Guide" and "The Player Autograph Baseball Glove Finder", as well as books about collectible bats and balls.

I use all three of his glove books quite frequently, would consider myself lost in glove collecting hobby without them and highly recommend them to anyone wanting to learn more about the hobby.