George McQuinn "Claw"

[mittmutt]

I'm not much of a "claw" guy but I found a very nice George McQuinn TM70 at a local thrift store. Beautiful black Rawlings patch, nice stampings, great condition, just a little dirty. I think it's a 1952 or 1953. For $2 I couldn't pass it up. After I clean it up I'll post a couple of pictures. I also found a Wilson A200. Is it supposed to be a smaller version of the A2000? If so , this one seems a bit lower quality.

[mittmutt]

It didn't turn out quite as well as I had hoped but it's still a very nice glove... especially for $2. I think it's a little older than I originally thought, maybe 1945ish.





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[fuzzydogg22]

for $2? I wish some finds like that would come my way! Nice job!

[crackofthebat]

It is definitely an earlier model because it does not have the strap at the top of the web running from the thumb to the index finger. Great addition to any collection for $2 !

[Cowboy7130]

That is the first time I have ever seen instructions printed on a glove or a mitt on how to wear it!

[mittmutt]

Cowboy,you can't see all the printing in my pictures but on the back of the fingers compartment it says "place all fingers in this section with small & and third fingers thru adjustable loop". Kind of cool.

[Mike**Mize]

Interesting story about these gloves. This one pre-dates the mandated addition of what's called the "web-controller". That makes it a 40's glove. Bob Duppstadt (sp?) ran a piece on the interesting design history of Rawlings Trappers several years ago for The Glove Collector. He really got me going on these gloves. The earliest designs had a single large one-piece back. Those are the ones to hunt for if you want to collect the earliest models. This one came second in line. Still in the 40's and without the web-controller, it allowed the user to expand the trap as much as he wanted. It's sometimes likened to the rolled lace web situation in that baseball decided that with this open ended design, the pocket could be made too big to be considered fair. I've never actually seen one expanded to the extent that it would seem too big. Usually you find the trap to be reasonably tight in both sides. When it first appeared some players would tighten the finger side while keeping the thumb side very loose almost out of the habit of using the older oven mitt style. It didn't take long for the half cone "trap" or "claw" to catch on. These gloves really pick up the short hops beautifully and the length of the pocket from square-on center palm all the way to the top end of the trap really made it easier to flag down high throws as well. I grew up playing a lot of first base beginning in '57 or so and as a kid right through my teen age years, I always used a trapper. Great gloves! The Holy Grail of these gloves for many Trapper collectors is the big old T70RY (40's version). Designed for Rudy York and just huge when compared to the T70, T75, and T90. One-piece backs of all three of these models are also great finds.

[rosajr]

Mike,

Did the early models have the thumb reinforcement in them also? This also seems to restain the effectiveness of opening the glove wide.

Jim

[Mike**Mize]

There is a very thick leather cut-out shape bracing the thumb in the early one-piece back T70 and T75. I have a very early super soft T90 that does not have one.I'm pretty sure it was part of the design for the top-of-the-line models from the get go.

[softball66]

[img][img]http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg240/popcorkhill/musialtrapperfront.jpg[/img]





First, congrats to mittmutt. I've been going into about 5 thrift stores for 5 years and have virtually come away empty handed except for a 9 grade signed Nolan Ryan baseball.

Mike, you've revealed your age again.
Cowboy, I think Rawlings was concerned that the guys using the Trapper would try to cut a hole for a finger in the middle strap. I guess. "Here's how to use this thing." Mike's right, man you could dig the balls out of the dirt, huge improvement to the old oven mitts. Thanks Hank Greenberg and Doc Lattina. The web controller (top strap) was added to keep ballplayers from extending or adding the lacing, rule change made same time they outlawed the rolled lace web.
Thank you also to Bob Duppstadt who so thoroughly researched this
classic and long lasting mitt style.
My above was $35 find at antique mall (yep $33 more than Mittmutt who unfortunately" didn't have much of a day." Musial T 70 RY.

[Mike**Mize]

If you look on JD's BaseballGloveCollector.Com site in the Rawlings section you can see my example of the pre web-controller T70RY, and one-piece back examples of the T70, T75 and T90. Last week on eBay I found (@$19.99) and have been cleaning up still another one-piece back T90 Tony Lupien Model. My eyes light up when I spot one with what Bob used to call "invisable seams" (meaning no stitching running up the path to the center finger). I like the 3 piece back pattern ones too. For one thing they're a lot of fun to clean up and re-lace. When the jobs done they just look so nicely designed. Thanks for the pictures of your RY Joe. That's a great glove.