1890's American Baseball Co. mitt from ebay

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1890's American Baseball Co. mitt from ebay

Postby mikesglove » November 27th, 2010, 10:04 pm

Charles W. Jencks & Bros. were manufacturers of fancy paper and wood boxes. They were located in Providence RI.
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In the mid 1870's they entered the burgeoning baseball equipment business under the name "American Baseball Company".
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the excerpt above from "Sport in America".
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The 1890's catchers mitt below was from the American Baseball Company. They were still in business in 1906 but that is the latest I could trace them. it really is a great looking mitt and went for $404 on ebay.
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Re: 1890's American Baseball Co. mitt from ebay

Postby mikesglove » February 22nd, 2011, 2:53 am

It seems that the mitt above was not manufactured by the American Baseball Co. in Providence RI. The 1893 Simmons Hardware catalog advertises a line of gloves and mitts by the "American Mitten Company" of St. Louis. The logo from the catalog matches that of the mitt from ebay. I couldn't find any information about the American Mitten Co. They may have been a house brand of Simmons Hardware for a time.
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Re: 1890's American Baseball Co. mitt from ebay

Postby Number9 » February 22nd, 2011, 12:49 pm

I saw that last night too. Interestingly, there is a page showing American Base Ball Company baseballs. It looks like a Spalding ad with the name changed.
Huntington Base Ball Co.
www.HuntingtonBaseBallCo.com
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Re: 1890's American Baseball Co. mitt from ebay

Postby mikesglove » February 22nd, 2011, 2:57 pm

Here is a picture William picked up from the Simmons catalog regarding the baseballs. I didn't look through all the pages of the ebay listing, just the gloves and I missed the "American Baseball Co." ad. That is one thing I like about looking through these old ads and catalogs. It is interesting finding companies that are long gone and mostly forgotten.
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Re: 1890's American Baseball Co. mitt from ebay

Postby mikesglove » April 12th, 2020, 11:58 pm

From a 1901 Simmons catalog. Pegamoid was a gelatinous varnish like concoction developed in Germany in the 1890's. Applied to fabric, the Pegamoid could leave a leather like waterproof coating. This process was widely used till our beloved vinyl Naugahyde was developed if the 1940's-50's. I bet many of the early oil cloth textured mitts on JD's site are actually synthetic Pegamoid leather.
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Note the "Royal Manufacturing Co." logo, another Simmons trademark
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