Pete Gray modified his glove so it was gripped at the edges by the thumb and pinky with the three fingers extending only into the palm. The glove looks super thin with most of the padding removed.
He used the glove as a ramp to flip the ball in the air, discard the glove, catch bare handed and throw.
Below is a photo of his glove. You can see the layers of leather built up in the pocket to stiffen it up.
That Babe Adams photo is one of my all time favorites. I wish Charles Conlon would have taken a few hundred more of players with their gloves like that one.
Loving that Pro-form Rainey Trap pic and wishing I had that glove. That is unique.
I found a couple more pic's of the Babe late in his career with his white sewn web. I don't think I've ever seen a photo of him with a later model glove. Of course, there are a ton of photos of him swinging a bat, but very few of him with a glove.
Santa Clara College baseball team circa 1890. I like the Decker Safety mitt with the button wrist strap. Odd that despite their popularity, only one or two have surfaced.
Another Santa Clara ball player circa 1900, "Prince Hal" Chase
Years ago, one of his game gloves was on ebay. It was a top line Wilson Lefty Gomez. Unfortunately I didn't have the cash to swing it. He was a Sonnett endorser and I sent one of his store models to him to autograph it. He wouldn't accept any payment for it and sent an autographed 1954 Topps Archive card back with it. Great guy.
Billy Cox with his Playmaker. I've read that Duke Snider talked about how small Billy's glove was. Maybe he was referencing the original Playmakers. The Playmaker Supreme from the early 50's was a pretty good sized glove. Stubbier than a Mort Cooper, but the one he has in the pictures doesn't look small to me. Supposedly, Casey Stengel told Brooks Robinson that he was the second best third baseman he'd ever seen. Billy Cox was the best.