Some would even establish or join existing sporting goods companies during or after their playing career ended.
Arthur Irwin was the most familiar player to do so. First with D&M and later Spalding in 1889, Irwin marketed his name to a
whole line of gloves and mitts in various leather grades and prices.
Below is an 1891 Spalding supplied Horace Partridge catalog page
Spalding would also license other retailers to use their company name on Irwin gloves/mittens
Below is an 1891 Spalding supplied Meacham Arms catalog page
Buck Ewing was a star catcher with the NY Giants. Ewing developed a pillow style mitt and in addition to catcher, he played 253 games as a baseman.
Ewings battery mate, Tim Keefe, was associated with Keefe & Becannon Sporting Goods of New York.
K&B's intent was to supply the official ball and other equipment to the newly formed Players League.
The Players League folded in 1890 and Keefe & Becannon went bankrupt in 1891.
Below is a page from their 1890 catalog. The catchers mitt at the top is interesting.
Instead of the welted edge of the Irwin style mitts, The K&B Special mitt was heavily padded at the top
to protect the fingers. The price of this pillow mitt was $7 versus the Irwin mitt at $6 and the Decker Safety Mitt at $5.
It is possible the K&B Special mitt shown above was the one developed by Ewing. Spalding posted a notice in 1892
that gives some credence to that. Spalding purchased the "Buck Ewing" trademark from the K&B bankruptcy receiver.
A Buck Ewing pillow mitt along with other Spalding gloves/mitts are later illustrated in a 1895 H.H. Kiffe Sporting goods catalog.
Boston Red Stocking star catcher John Morrill ended his playing career in 1890 and established John Morrill Co. in Boston.
He is credited with a patent for a football nose guard during this time. Wright & Ditson Sporting Goods were also in Boston.
Spalding bought W&D after the death of Henry Ditson in 1889. In 1892, John Morrill was hired by Spalding to manage
the Wright & Ditson store. By 1893, Spalding created a line of Morrill gloves and mitts sold through W&D.
Spalding took the Morrill design and used it as a basis for their model 6-0 mitt in 1894. Now, the new thing here is the lace webbing.
The illustration below gives a dimensional view of the mitt. I can't tell if the web lacing is directly through grommets or attached
through sewn leather flaps using the 1891 D&M patent. Brett has an original 1894 page. Maybe he can tell. The mitt was priced at $6.
The Kennedy mitt was $10. No wonder the Kennedy mitt is so elusive now.
As far as examples of the early pillow style, the photo below is a detail from a larger baseball group photo of
Naval Cadets in the 1890's. The photo shows the seamed edge of the mitt, horseshoe back panel and the hook/grommet wrist.
I found only one sure thing on JD's site http://www.baseballglovecollector.com that seemed to match the early Ewing/Morrill mitts.
The mitt is fully padded, hook/grommet wrist, perimeter seamed, horseshoe back panel.
The mitt below has the horseshoe back panel, hook/grommet wrist, D&M style webbing and is possibly
a later version of the Morrill mitt.
The 2 mitts below are of identical construction and have a wrist strap and button.
They also look to have a thick outseam welting. They are primitive.
