Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

Got one hear that's got this old timer buffaloed. Went to Dallas antique show today and picked up what I'm guessing is an early to mid 1930s top of the line professional glove (fits my hand easily) cross hatch lacing with grommets. Absolutely great thick leather. Button back. Says "Professional Special" in middle of palm and about the 4 ocock area has "Professional Model" stacked with the Patent Number underneath it.
The model number begins "H5...." Has small thumb protector sewn in and laced heel. I'll try to get a shot of it to post.

I've been able to pull out the patent date on this glove find. It's "November 21, 1922." This is not the Doak patent which I believe is August, 1922 (check me out on that). We think Rawlings made this glove so if someone can match up a 1920s Rawlings with this patent date that would help.
It's interesting to note that the patent doesn't have to cover the entire glove but can describe only a portion or feature of the glove such as a web.

According to the glove patents I have collected from the US Patent Web site the glove patent # 1,436,131 was issued on Nov 21 1922 and the inventor was a W. P. Whitley who was a Rawlings employee. I was unable to post the patent picture and description but if you go to the US patent web site and search the patent number you'll be able to see the images. According to the description the patent was issued as a way to keep the glove from tearing in between the fingers of the glove.

We appreciate your looking up that patent information. That's interesting by Rawings following on the heels of their Doak a couple of months later. And I'm thinking because of the Rawlings employee earning the patent that this happened before Harry (Doc) Latina got there to begin his storied career with Rawlings.
I know there was a "diverted seams" patent by Reach I believe about 1912 or 1913 where in it prevented the tearing between the fingers. I'm thinking that each of the fingers are sewn separately with the index finger joined together to form a "V" in the back. All this probably had to do with the strengthening of the fingers areas. Later Ken Wel would bring this to another step.
Also interesting to note as how the 1920s gloves changed in the 1930s besides their webbings. The gloves grew wider and were padded much more in the heel, thumb and pinkie fingers.

Here's a picture of the glove with the Rawlings patent date. Top of line for sure. The seller had three gloves that day and Puddin' Head Jones and Peanuts Lowry gloves were with this, both priced at above $60 while this was only $40. Seller asked me later why I picked only this one out and I told him that I liked the quality it showed and was puzzled by the markings. Seller later at his warehouse showed me dozens more gloves plus some nice catchers masks and other tools of ignorance. I passed on all but a ex+ Yogi mitt from him. He's got the rest for sale and if any forum member is interested I can furnish his email address. mine is glovecol@earthlink.net