by BretMan » January 8th, 2010, 1:10 pm
The Ted Williams glove is kind of unusual in that it carries a model number usually associated with gloves sold through the Sears stores and catalogs, yet is branded with the Wilson logos. I would guess that this glove was issued about the time that Williams switched his glove endorsement deal from Wilson to Sears near the end of his playing career and that would be right about 1960/1961.
Williams endorsed Wilson gloves from the late 40's and throughout the 50's. In 1960 he signed an endorsement deal with Sears which, at the time, was believed to be the most lucrative endorsement deal in sports. For the next two decades all of their sporting goods carried the "Ted Williams" brand name- everything from baseball, basketball and football equipment to hunting and fishing gear.
All of the Sears baseball gloves carried four-digit model numbers begining with the numbers "16" (such as "1670", "1650", "1652", etc.) Just from personal observation, it does appear that at the outset of this deal Wilson was making at least some of the gloves sold in Sears stores. Shortly thereafter, it appears that Sears switched their glovemaking contract over to MacGregor and they made most of the Ted Williams gloves for the remainder of his endorsement deal.
This is a common practice for Sears, be it for sporting goods, washing machines, tires or any other product sold through their stores. Sears is a retailer and not a manufacturer, and they contract with other companies to produce the goods sold in their stores. These goods are otherwise identical to those sold by the other companies, only they have been "re-branded" with the Sears logo. For instance, if you buy a Sears Kenmore washing machine, odds are that you are actually getting a Whirlpool-made washer with "Kenmore" badges on it.
Wilson had a decades-long history of producing gloves for Sears under the "J.C. Higgins" brand name. I could only speculate on the specifics, but this glove must have been issued right about the time that his endorsement deal was switched. Perhaps Wilson was allowed to market a Williams glove under some existing terms of his contract with them. Maybe during the first year of his deal with Sears the gloves they sold still carried the Wilson logos and brand name. After that point, the gloves sold through Sears were identified only as "Ted Williams" or "Sears" brands, no matter which company actually produced the gloves.
I guess that makes this particular glove a bit of an oddball- it carries a Sears model number, but also the Wilson brand name. I'd have to agree that 1961 would be a logical date to put on this glove and that it is some sort of "hybrid" spawned from the long association between Wilson and Sears and the switching of his endorsement deal at about the same time.
On the other glove, Wilson produced Jim "Catfish" Hunter gloves between 1969 and 1980. I don't see that exact model listed in their catalogs during those years, but their catalogs reflected gloves sold through sporting goods stores. It wasn't uncommon for other models to be produced for sale through other retail outlets (department stores, chain stores) and those aren't always listed in their catalogs.
As with many other popular players, companies would often produce several different models bearing the player's name in any given year. This was the case with Hunter. Wilson would issue high-quality top-line "Personal Model" gloves as well as lesser-quality "Autograph Models" using thinner leather, cheaper materials and usually smaller in size as they were aimed at the youth market.
Without an exact reference in the Wilson catalogs, the best I could say is that this is generically a 1970's style glove and definitely one of the less-expensive models. The "Autograph Models" might have sold for about 1/2 or 1/3 what the top-line gloves did and that lower price reflected the lower quality of materials and construction.
Hope that helps!
