Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

I have a Nokona G33, but I can't find an endorsement anywhere. Were there G33s made without an endorsement?

Many old Nokonas I've seen seem to have really light stampings. The same holds true for the G33 I have right now. You can clearly make out "JOF" in the "Joff Cross" endorsement, but the rest of his name is gone or barely there. The model number looks like "G3" unless you hold it at just the right angle under a bright light- then you can see the other "3". The indian head logo in the pocket is all there and more clear than the rest, which is kind of strange because usually the stampings in the pocket are the ones that get obscured from the ball hitting them.

This is despite the glove looking like it didn't really see much use. It's clean and the leather overall is free of dirt, stains, oil, abrasions, etc. It makes me think that the stampings weren't too deep to begin with. Then, perhaps the glove laid face-down for many years and it kind of "un-bossed" the stampings under it's own weight. The player endorsement and the model number are out on the pads, right where the weight of the glove would rest on a flat surface, while the indian head logo in the pocket wouldn't be touching anything.

Hey Robert. I have had a dozen Nokona G33s and glovecrazy has had more than that, and most every G33 I have ever had was a Joff Cross model and a couple were Jeff Cross models. I also had two Nokona G33 Bill Hunter models. I haven't seen any G33s without either a Cross or Hunter endorsement. Hope this helps.

JD

Thanks, guys.

I figured there had to be an endorsement since I've seen a couple Cross ones online. Maybe I'll get a flashlight and see if I can pick up the stampings. I can pick up the G33 pretty well. The Indian logo is totally gone, but the patch on the back looks really nice after I cleaned it up. I thought it was a lost cause. Being a noob, I'm just glad I didn't mess it up.