Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

Can anyone share any information about Hawthorne gloves?

My first glove was a Hawthorne that my dad passed on to me. I am not sure when he got it, but I think he stopped playing baseball when he was about 11 or 12, so I am guessing the glove is fron about 1957-1962.

I have seen a few Hawthorne gloves on Ebay. It appears they were maybe the gloves sold by Montgomery Ward stores.

Portions of the glove have been relaced over the years. There is some original lacing on it, but some of that is cracked and broken. I would like to relace the glove so all the laces match and find the best way to condition it and preserve it. I haven't used it for years - other than sitting on the couch throwing a ball into it by myself, but I want to keep it conditioned and preserved properly.

Any suggestions?

You are correct, Hawthorne is the name that Montgomery Wards used to sell its sports equipment under.

You can relace the glove yourself if you are patient and have some simple tools. See the section under in this forum under Glove Restoration, there are plenty of posts on how to do this. Do not pull out the laces until you are certain you know how to relace it. Better to relace as you pull out the old laces, or draw a series of diagrams.

You can order laces from various places on Ebay. You can also find posts about how and where to buy laces in the same Glove Restoration section. Your old laces will probably be thinner in thickness and width than the new ones that's OK you should still be able to relace the glove.

There are a few different views on how to clean and condition baseball gloves, again hit the Glove Restoration section. There are some common quality products that most people use each has pros and cons. For cleaners try Lexol pH cleaner, or Fast Orange without pumice. For conditioners try Lexol conditioner or Lexol NF conditioner, petroleum jelly, or lanolin. Finding these may be difficult try a good hardware store or an automobile supply shop for the Lexol products. Ebay is a source for these but you have to pay for shipping.

If you are good at making relacing diagrams and are comfortable with a complete disassembly than it is easier to clean and condition the whole glove when it is unlaced.

Don't worry if you run into problems or have questions there are a ton of experienced people here who are more than willing to help.

Good luck and have fun!