Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

I got a Rawlings Model H Bill Doak glove (USA-United States Army version.) After I cleaned the glove, I found print on the outside of the wristband. It is faint, but one can see "S7033" in about 1" lettering. The lettering is a stamp, branding, or remotely possible - a stencil. The letters/numbers are stylized (kind of like typewritter print.) The S is slightly raised above the numbers.

It is not handwritten with pen or marker. I am wondering if it is the serial number? Or production date? (But isn't this a glove from '42-'45 ish?) Like I said this glove has "USA" on the lower right of the heel instead of the patent numbers. Maybe the Army stamped the wrsitband for inventory?

All of the Doak H USA gloves I have seen do not have tags on the wristband like the retail ones (like this one does not.) This "stamp" is where those tags would be.

Thank you for any help...

Probably, until we get a body of these wartime gloves, Rawlings, Wilsons,
Goldsmiths, etc. and can compare some commonalities we may not know
what numbers like these mean.
On the web of my USA Doak the Licensed Patent numbers are stamped:1524295 and 2221204. Which may have been patents for features on the glove rather than for the glove itself.
These two numbers do not match up with yours. There is nothing on the back side of the wrist strap on this glove. In fact no other numbers of this
size anywhere else on the glove.
But, interesting topic.

I'm not a military guy so I couldn't tell you if it's some kind of ID marker or not. However, I do know that it's incredibly easy to stamp markings onto leather. The owner most likely did this himself, or, it was done by the Army before the gloves were distributed.

Ya, this glove has the patent numbers on the center of the web too. The Army stamping the glove makes the most sense.

I haven't seen anything stamped on the wristband of any other H Doak USA gloves I have seen. Then again - a picture of the wristband of this glove doesn't help much. The lettering is faint, the flash obscures it and it is too light to be able to be seen well otherwise.

Also, I noticed non-military Doak gloves (retail) seem to sell for more $(I am guessing because most have colorful wristband patches.) Though I would think that these USA gloves are rarer, or producted in lower quantities, how could they not be...

I don't know that any Doak's were made outside the US. I also agree that people like patches. A patchless glove will usually sell for less than that of one with a patch. If the WWII gloves had a cool stamping like the YMCA marking from WWI, they would probably draw more interest than a standard issue Doak. Just a guess.

The stamping on the wrist might have been done by Rawlings at the plant or later by the military.
Thing is: that (oh yes all Doaks made in USA) companies making gloves for the military during WWII could not, under their government contracts, make gloves for retail sales. So the military, with consultants and with company officials, selected an adult glove from their lines: Rawlings Doak, Wilsonn (615?) Goldsmith Elmer Riddles, Nokona Tony York style gloves for production. Many companies were switching from sporting goods to military goods: Dubow was making leather bomber jackets, H&B was making stocks for rifles. Shank buttons were disappearing into buttons for uniforms, etc.
Some of these gloves are marked USA (army) USN (Navy) USMC (Marine Corps) and some "Special Services". These might have been designated
with special numbers at the plant (like this one). Most, it seems, have not.
No, and no patches, plain Jane gloves.
So we had a lot of gloves produced for the military servicemen who probably brought them home with them after their service duty was over.
They were issued out of the army usually by the Special Services people
for games all over the Pacific to Europe and state side. An interesting time of glove production in the glove field.

Good information, thanks. So I guess these gloves where mostly only issued overseas. Would some have wound up at Army bases for sale if they never gave them all out to soldiers? It would make them more common.

I'm pretty sure most were issued here in the U.S. bases as there was a little more time for recreation. Probably a lot of servicemen just tossed into their duffle bags and brought 'em home. Some may have been left in the military
warehouse too like you suggest.
As I recall or as I'm guessing. These gloves and bats and balls would be issued out for the games or practices and were probably to be returned after the game, etc. But, like I say, some got appropriated for civilian use after
soldier or sailor's tour and duty was over.
I've seen one USMC and it was of Korean War Vintage.

This is from the April 1945 issue of Sports Age, a sporting goods dealer trade magazine. It mentions the leather shortages that made gloves so scarce at that time and a call for more sporting goods for the servicemen overseas. It sounds like most of the gloves and other sporting goods went to the War Dept. from Sept. 1944 on. Hope it's readable on your screen.

I have 2 Wilson 617X special services models, and they each have different stampings on them. Neither have any serial numbers or patches. One is marked "Professional Model US", the other has a "Special Services US" marking. I collect WWII US Army items in addition to gloves, so the Special Services models brings the two loves together. I also belong to a WWII living history group, and we pull out the split-finger gloves and throw the ol' apple around when we can.

WW II gloves, hard to beat the story of the Nocona U. S. Army glove that was captured by the Germans as war booty when they overran an American position, only to have it liberated again when the Americans rescued from the Nazis. Would you consider the glove a G.O.W.??

In regards to Green Rhino's original post(I know it's old so I don't know if he's still looking in) the S7033 is the soldier's laundry tag ID. The "S" is the 1st letter of the last name (so, Smith, Scott, etc) and the 7033 is the last 4 digits of his Army Serial Number (ASN). It was common for these to be seen in all of their clothing, hats, etc, and would be an easy identifier for a glove. I'm guessing the original owner was an officer or a member of the unit's ball team to have been issued his own glove. Unfortunately, I know of no way to trace the partial serial number. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info. It is very difficult to see the stamp in photo, but its there & here is the glove anyway.

This is the only vintage glove I use because it is kind of beat but is good quality and holds up fine. The only major
deterioration is the severe fraying of the wristband piping from before I got it. Rawlings has less padding though,
I noticed first hand, than Goldsmith from same time. I need a DW to beat as well.

Here's an interesting military USA Doak Model H glove.
I've only seen the sewn heel on the military issues. There's a lack of catalogs from '41-'53
I'd love to see if this was a catalog model or specially made for the armed forces.

Here's another one. It's a Special Services U.S. Army version.