Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

Let's get a discussion going about the best glove companies by era. Take into account the quality of the gloves, type of leather, uniqueness, playability, etc. Here's my take:

Up to 1910 - William Read and Sons. Co.
1910 - 1920 - D&M
1920 - 1930 - Ken-Wel
1930 - 1940 - Goldsmith
1940 - 1950 - OK MFG Co.
1950 - 1960 - Rawlings

Brett, I like your choices. Before 1910 the competition and proliferation of glove manufacturers was staggering. Your choice of William Read is interesting. They were possibly the oldest established Sporting goods Co. 1910-1920 I would give to Reach/Spalding- The diverted seam patent changed everything. The Company really became dominant. 1940-1950 I would give to Wilson. Beautiful tanned high quality leather, some interesting patents like the external seam model and the whole piece palm with no thumb seam. Other than that I am right with you.

19th Century - William Read & Sons
1900 - 1910 - Spalding/Reach
1910 - 1920 - Goldsmith
1920 - 1930 - D&M, followed very closely by S&D
1930 - 1940 - Spalding/Reach
1940 - 1950 - Wilson
1950 - 1960 - Rawlings

I particularly like the Wilson 1940-50 because of this glove. Really seemed state of the art at the time.

I can see mr. mitt's placing Reach/Spalding 1900-10 because the diverted seam patent was in 1908 and it was a culmination of their work for the whole decade. They just road that crest moving forward.

Admittedly, I'm biased towards OK, but if you look at their entire body of work compared to Wilson's in the 40's, I think OK may come out on top. I would agree that Wilson made some great gloves during the 40's and their leather was top notch. However, some of the designs on the OK models were super cool and went above and beyond whatever Wilson was doing at that time. The Chromemax leather OK was using is probably some of the finest used to make gloves. The 3 finger models from OK during this time period are highly crafted and feature some really interesting design concepts. It's no wonder that Wilson bought them out in 1956.

As for William Read, I've only seen a couple examples of their work, but each one is top quality, well constructed and visually pleasing.

I was curious why Brett chose Ok Manufacturing 1940-50's, so I checked some out.Clever design with the extended pocket between the first and second finger and third and fourth finger Overall design similar to the Wilson 1928 patent below except one extended pocket between first and second finger. Here was one of my favorite Wilson gloves. Wilson did indeed buy out OK Manufacturing and eventually changed OK to Sonnett and still produced some real nice gloves, one of my favorites being the "Stormin Norman" Cash model.

1900-1910 - J A Peach
1910-1920 - Spalding/Reach
1920-1930 - Ken- Wel
1930-1940 - Wilson
1940-1950 - Goldsmith/MacGoldsmith
1950-1960 - Rawlings/Spalding Depending on which patch/stampings/endorsement.
Post 1960 but pre 1900 - Huntington Base Ball Co.

okdoak wrote:Post 1960 but pre 1900 - Huntington Base Ball Co.

Alright, alright. I'll buy you two beers in Chicago. Pale ales?

Hate to admit it William, but I'm no longer a beer drinker (honest). Soda is fine or maybe I'll live dangerously and have an O'Douls. How about if I buy you a beer in Chicago next year? I have see that booth! Work on Brett to go there!!!!

Fair enough, two root beers.

I'd love to set up again next year. It's a pretty major expense though so we'll see how it all works out.

Sounds good. Really hoping it happens because I can already taste those root beers.

Well are we defining "best" or "favorite"? "Company?" or "Glove(s)"??? I think a little narrower focus might help.
Certainly D&M got a jump company wise with its Irwin glove. Rawlings got another leap on the market with the Doak in the early 1920s. Remember the Doak lasted longer in a line under that name
that any other.
D&M and Spalding/Reach etc. might have been the leaders in sales from 1890s to 1920.
Somehow we left Goldsmith out during its tenure?
Not arguing either of the "bests"chosen, but several companies were making very quality gloves for the first half of the century.

Although it's hard to be objective I was aiming for best, rather than favorite. There were lots of hard to choices to make, but that's what makes a discussion like this fun. Each person that participates is going to have an opinion on what makes a company the best from a certain era. Overall, I was looking at the entire companies line, not just a single glove. That's why I couldn't choose Rawlings until the 50's - obviously the Doak glove is one of the best ever, but the rest of Rawlings line during that era (with the exception of the Sisler) is just kind of ho-hum. Obviously we aren't going to have a consensus or anything close to it, just wanted to see what other peoples opinions were.

Good submissions on this thread! The Doak was an OVERPOWERING glove, maybe that's why Rawlings didn't beef up its other gloves during this period. The Sisler was good and I like the Cy Perkins I thought was a nice mitt. Harry Lattina was an astute designer and he contributed with that "Deep Well" padded pocket. Doak finally played out about the 1940s . But, don't forget that Rawlings dominated the First Baseman Mitt with its Trapper Mitt of the 1940s which killed the old "Oven Mitt" types.
But I'm in agreement with the excellent mitts/gloves of O. K. Goldsmith, Peach, Spaldings, Ken Wels, Wilsons. I don't have a problem with anyone.
And we have to look at the function of the glove, which was to catch and hold on to the baseball. As a function, maybe not from aesthetics standpoint.
Love the ideas and input here.