Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

Thought this was kind of interesting because he talks about the stamping process in his description. He also has the stamping dies for Sal Maglie and Sam Esposito (most elusive Spalding PM ever?!)
http://cgi.ebay.com/Phil-Rizzuto-New-Yo ... 299wt_1141

Love these little metal dies... here's a Rawlings Mickey Mantle Triple Crown Winner (old signature).

These are printing dies for a catalog, but neat nonetheless. Both are Spalding Home Run Special Ruth models, the WW fielder's glove and 2B basemitt.

Don't have this one anymore, unfortunately, but always thought it was cool. A D&M printing die for a G40 Walter Johnson glove.

Very cool!!!!

I haven't done a search here yet, but does anyone have pics of glove factories from back in the day?
They show one in Ken Burns Baseball documentary, showing the final stages of a glove being made. I wish there was more footage of the old process, even shots of gloves from the 20's on the retail shelf would be amazing.

johnmilner wrote:Very cool!!!!

I haven't done a search here yet, but does anyone have pics of glove factories from back in the day?
They show one in Ken Burns Baseball documentary, showing the final stages of a glove being made. I wish there was more footage of the old process, even shots of gloves from the 20's on the retail shelf would be amazing.

Old copies of Sporting Goods Dealer magazines are good for shop photos. I have some in my collection and have it on my list to scan some of the pictures that are in there.

There are some vintage photos of Nocona Glove Making in my Nokona Glove history book. Mostly from 1950s, maybe some earlier. I may have an assortment of other Nocona factory shots not shown in the book, plus some others from other company early days.

Photos of glove factories pop up every so often. These three neat pics were recently auctioned by MEARS. They're of Ted Williams at the Wilson factory and are from the Sporting News Collection.

here is a photo of a Victor Sporting Goods display circa 1896. Not sure if this is from a trade show but displays full line of Victor products.

In the Bing Crosby movie, "Bells of St Marys" Bings character goes into a sproting goods store to buy equipment for the kids. They show a wonderful display of boxed gloves to die for

Wow, thanks for posting those pics!

The shots of Ted at the factory are pretty awesome in that you see all those fresh gloves being made.
Something about that just intrigues me. All these items we collect, they're all obviously really old, and it's hard to fathom at times that they were at one time
indeed new and bought off the shelf. It's almost like looking at black and white photos and then seeing colour shots from the same time period,
it's strange and alters your perception. I hope that made sense

The Victor sporting goods shot is cool too, love those old-time displays!!

I love the pinup in the background of the middle shot. Some things never change.

Love to see those scans when you can Brett, and those Nocona shots too!

I'm going to check out Bells of St. Marys for those store shots!

That Mantle Triple Crown stamp looks great with the glove, Jerry. I really enjoy seeing pictures of the store displays and inside the glove shops also. Just looking at that pile of brand new Wilson gloves gives me goosebumps. The beginning segment of that Ken Burns episode that johnmilner mentioned has the same effect on me, especially when the woman who laced them holds that brand spanking new mitt up for the camera. Just magical! Here's the Tool Shop store display from 1945 with a couple of rolled lace gloves:

Just looking at that pile of brand new Wilson gloves gives me goosebumps

Me too!
Like I said, there is something about seeing the vintage gloves in their new and during-construction phases. As they are now, they seem like relics, and seeing those pics gives them a touch of reality for me.
Thanks for posting that Tool shop pic okdoak! Very cool!