I've been kind of obsessed with the glove that Jonny Vander Meer may have used when he pitched back to back no hitters in 1938. Years ago I found a couple of newspaper photo's of it that didn't show much detail. I just found one that gives a better look at it.
A company called Great Western made different models of the Flex Form glove, but I have yet to see one. They seem to be very rare. Spalding carried a couple models, but I haven't seen one that really matches. The JC Higgins model looks closest to me. Mike posted on another thread that Wilson may be the one that actually made them.
I've found it really difficult to identify gloves from that era, unless I get a good look at the tag. But I mostly focus on gloves from the mid 1920s to the 1940's. It is a cool photo. Here's one of the Babe at his locker looking over his modified web. Idk. Did they make bubble wrap back then?
glovejunkie wrote:Honus… Sorry I don’t quite have the eye to match up each photo with the correct glove, but still cool photo and shows how small it was pretty well
Eric, that is a super interesting photo you posted. Here is a higher resolution image I found. The glove? he is wearing is pretty unique. I read that Wagner had huge hands and had to alter his gloves to fit. This glove pictured though is in another realm.
This closeup view below shows a weird mash-up of a fielders glove and catchers mitt.
Yeah I had noticed it was very interesting when I saw it and saved to my phone…had no idea what it was exactly…but that is an amazing eye, I never thought that was a thumb in the pic…I thought it was a possible homemade web of some sort…but your right Mike, very cool!!
lol. Just a hand shake will have to suffice. Bill Werber from 1939. Looks like he's using a wide Rainey trap endorsed by teammate Billy Myers.
Another one of the 1939 Reds, Bucky Walters, is holding a Hutch model in an early thread. So many others from that squad endorsed Hutch; Ival Goodman, Harry Craft, Vince Di Maggio, Lee Grissom, Junior Thompson, Whitey Moore, Peaches Davis...