Top line Rizzuto and tough Spalding

[softball66]

I got this in a collection of gloves locally and didn't pay much attention to it at first. When I got around to looking it up in the Catalog Book, it turns out to be a hard to find premium Phil Rizzuto glove #1121. The 1954 Spalding Catalog lists it as #1122, so this might have been from 1955.
It was $22.25, behind the Sam Mele #1101 and Warren Hacker models at $29 and ahead of the rest of the Spalding gloves that year. Phil's name is on a bunch of youth gloves. And why did Spadling choose Mele and Hacker on their top lines. I think this glove was made in the old Spalding plant before Rawlings started making the Spaldings. And it's probably hard to find like the Frank Bollings, Jim Bunnings,Rocky Colavito persons.

[glove-works]

Joe,

Great glove, I am fortunate enough to have one of these in near mint condition. This is only the 2nd of this model I think I have seen. Love the X lacing on the back of the thumb and index finger. I'll post some pic's later.

Mike

[softball66]

Thanks Mike, you'd mentioned that before. I got this with a large 20+ glove sack and it wasn't in very nice shape. I got it relaced afterwards and as you can see, cleaned out the name as best I could. When I looked it up I was surprised to see it was such a premium glove. You are probably right about only a couple of these turning up. I've seen maybe two of the Spalding Hackers and a couple of Mele's (even more expensive) since I started on gloves.
We'd like to see your pix!

[glove-works]

I have the Mele 1101, and 1117 Hacker as well. The Hacker looks like it may have been made by Wilson.

[softball66]

Mike brings up another aspect of these Spaldings of the early 1950s. Years ago we found a die cast stamp of George Stirnweiss in one of the old Nocona stamping drawers. Bobby Storey seems to remember Nocona making some gloves for Spalding in the early 1950s. Spalding may have closed its plant down somewhere along the line and farmed these early 1950s gloves out like they later did with Rawlings.