Tornado Palm - Fielders' Choice

[Mr. Mitt]

Instead of hijacking the "Glove of the Month" thread, thought it would be best to begin a new one. Here's the "Tornado Palm" in it's original glory, from the 1924 Spalding equipment catalog. There's no better glove name for marketing purposes than "Fielders' Choice"! What's cool, to me at least, is that the name remains legible on the glove's palm after all these years. It was their top of the line, most expensive professional model. Production lasted three years, from 1924-1926. If anyone can find a patent, I'd love to see it.

[mikesglove]

Here is a 1924 patent assigned to George Reach by the inventor Robert Nixon for a sewn palm glove. George Reach was the son of A.J. Reach and affiliated with Spalding Sporting Goods, the maker of the "Fielders Choice" glove.The sewing pattern of the illustration wasn't set in stone. The patent documentation left leeway to arrange the stitching in rows and not to impede the folding of the glove. The patent stated the slight bulging of the leather between the stitching would help the ball stick to the glove.

[Mr. Mitt]

I've seen that Nixon patent before, but don't think it was ever produced, at least in that configuration. Never came across one pictured in a catalog and one hasn't surfaced yet, to my knowledge. That would be a mega-discovery! Perhaps we could hope for a prototype to be found.

[vintagebrett]

The Fielders Choice is quite the piece. Since the catalog doesn't really state the purpose, what is all the extra stitching for? Is it to make the pocket more stable or increase the likelihood of keeping the ball after contact?

Maybe the new owner will let me shag a couple balls with it to see how it works.

[mikesglove]

The purpose of the Nixon patent was to stop a ball thrown or hit with a lot of spin. The sewn pouches were to dampen the movement of the ball. It is my opinion that the 30+ separate sewn pouches was not cost effective from a production stand point. The retail price of the glove would be too high. A simpler alternative would be to sew another flap of leather to the palm and stitch a continuous pouch in a circular and zig-zag pattern. This is still in the spirit of the Nixon patent and ended up as the "Fielder's Choice" glove.

[Mr. Mitt]

Cost could have been a contributing factor to its short production lifespan. Being Spalding's most expensive professional model, you have to look at their target market, however. Ballplayers of the era were cutting holes in the palms of their gloves to attain more feel for the ball, not adding padding. I'm of the opinion that it simply didn't sell and ended as a flop because it wasn't what players wanted. If the glove sold because the design worked and/or was accepted by the the professional player, there would have been spin off designs to capitalize on the new craze. That was not the case. The external padding concept disappeared and glove design continued, sans padding, ever since. Short-lived experiment that failed, nothing more, nothing less.

I don't think that's in the cards, Brett...

[mikesglove]

The 1925 Reach catalog features the model AC "tornado palm" glove along with the model CH "Double Face" model, both $10 at the time and featured gloves in the catalog.

The Model CH below featured an inner and outer layer of leather joined by stitching through the palm and fingers.

The Model CH "Double Face" design was borrowed from The "Double Face" catchers mitt.

The "Double Face" design was a 1916 invention by John Gamble for George Reach and featured an inner layer of leather stitched to the padding and functioning as a reinforcement to the outer face of the mitt and as an aid to keep the structural integrity of the padding in place.

The model AC "tornado palm" glove featured an outer layer of leather overlayed and attached by stitching to the face of the glove. The heel of this Spalding glove below was stamped "Patent Applied For" as was the Reach model AC in the 1925 catalog. It seems a little odd to me that from 1924-1926 a design would stay as "Patent Applied For". It may be as MrMitt posted, the design wasn't paying for itself and wasn't pursued.

The design has a lot in common with the reinforced stitched palms of the early catchers mitts, such as this 1899 Tompkins patent model

[mikesglove]

By 1926 George Reach was turning his attention to a more curved finger glove to capture a ball efficiently. Mr.Mitt posted the stiffness of the extra padding in the "Fielders Choice" glove could have doomed it. This patent by Walter Long in 1926 for George Reach is for a curved finger glove and is interesting as a precursor to the various Kurv-Form gloves circa 1940. An extra curved leather piece was attached inside each finger stall. As a ball struck the pocket, the curved fingers would be drawn over the ball, containing it.

The 1928 ad below touted the glove as following the natural curve of the fingers

[mikesglove]

Here is a beautiful looking Kenwel handball glove presently on ebay. There are a lot of similarities in the palm stitching of this glove with the Spalding "Fielders Choice". The Kenwel glove was patented a little later in 1926 by Burt Kennedy. Notice the patented "bifurcated patch" as a finger crotch reinforcement. It is an interesting variation of the 1912 J.A. Peach invention for a wrist opening reinforcement. This is such a stellar example that if I was a KenWel collector this glove would be gone! It has the older cloth patch and is pristine. Nice out-seam construction and stamping of the patent on the thumb.

[Kenny Wel]

Ken-Wel is my thing, but I am trying to focus on baseball only items as a measure of some self control. I might have to splurge on this item though. I saw something very similar at an antique fair this summer, and I managed to walk away, but this one might be too much to resist.

Ken

[softball66]

Remember more recently on stopping "ball spin" in the glove, SSK's attempts with its "dimpled palm" little holes in the leather. Not sure the earlier or the latter efforts worked to any great degree.
SSK eventually got away from the idea.