Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

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Below is an 1897 patent for such a glove. The inventor was from Philadelphia. It was designed primarily for motormen or gripmen. You can see the small knob impression in the palm of the glove above. Interestingly enough, the patent included uses for bricklayers, stone masons as well as ball players if need be. The glove above has remnants of a ball & socket snap type of closure on the back as well as a stamp on the front of a manufacturer of Thos. ______? in Phil. PA.

Great research..as always.
If this were used as a catcher's mitt, the pitcher must have been a fireballer.
Mike, you're definitely a terrific asset to this forum.

Great information Mike - thanks for sharing! Saw that item when it was posted and didn't know what to make of it. Seems like the functionality of using it for baseball would be nil. With an 1897 patent date, there were definitely a lot better alternatives on the market.

thanks for the encouraging words. The glove ended up selling for $800 and with the 22% buyers premium would end up a little under a grand out of pocket. Interesting that the 6 bids were live from the floor, no internet bids at all.

there was one internet bid...but I was about at half of the selling price