Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

I saw this in a 1921 Stall & Dean catalog and thought it was interesting. There are photos superimposed on the palms of the gloves. Now, I know they didn't actually do this but it got me thinking about it a bit. Would this have been possible in this era (William and Mike, I'm looking in your direction)? Would it have been popular? Can you imagine the collect-ability of them in this era. A Ty Cobb glove with his photo in the palm? We know decal bats do well - I think the gloves would be even cooler! Thoughts?

It's technically possible, I suppose. The decal likely wouldn't last more than an afternoon though. But, that would be amazing if one turned up. In order to see it and know what it was, the glove would have to be unused. Mint S&D Cobb with a decal.....the bidding would be through the roof!

I found this circa 1911 advertisement for a Diamond Brand "Duck Web" with a photo of Harry Niles and signature superimposed over the illustration of the glove. The rare hang tag is real deal however, and Harry Niles attests to the "Genuineness and High Quality" of the glove and signs the hang tag as his endorsement. It is an interesting marketing strategy for that era to link a player with a certain model glove. Brett's Stall and Dean advertisement reminds me of the S&D "Grover Alexander" model of the late 20's where the stamping on the thumb of the glove states Alexander "Uses and Endorses this Model". Stamping is the operative word. The "picture pocket" gloves of the 1950's-60's were pretty much stamped outlines. The amount of detail in the Diamond ad and Brett's S&D ad would require a real light touch. I have wondered about the possibility of an early picture pocket glove, but like William says it would almost have to have survived unused.

I agree with the consensus. Decals would have been difficult to adhere to leather and wouldn't last long if glove played with, didn't do that well with bats but the process "took" better.
I think the catalog pictures were a super imposed printing technique and if images were used, it was done by stamping. Maybe the facial images were on the hang tags but don't know if any
of these have turned up.

Perhaps this is the image we're looking for...

Jerry's "Babe Ruth" hang tag is pretty spectacular. That alone would sell some gloves in its day. Along with the box, the hang tag is highly collectible. Here is a image of Rob's near mint Diamond glove with hang tag.

Great looking "Mickey Mantle" hang tag sold for $306 on ebay. Would be nice to book end this with Jerry's "Babe Ruth" hang tag above. Interesting that hang tags have kept being used as advertisement all these decades. First thing to go in the trash was the ball players glove hang tag so they are rare and highly collectible.I like the classic "early style" signature

We run similar small hang tags at the tag and label company I work for. Now if only I could find those old Diamond plates....kidding of course.