by BretMan » January 31st, 2011, 7:06 pm
That's a model number that doesn't seem to appear in the old Rawlings catalogs. During Mantle's career, Rawlings issued probably a dozen different glove models with his endorsement that appear in their catalogs. The only problem is, not all of the gloves they made were listed in their catalogs! The catalog gloves were usually the ones aimed at the retail sporting goods market. They made plenty of gloves for other retailers, like K-Mart or JC Penneys, for which no catalog data exists. Throw in the gloves they made for promotional tie-ins, premiums or giveaways and I've seen probably at least another dozen uncataloged Mantle glove models.
I would say that this is definitely a glove from late in his career- and possibly even after his career had ended. According to "The Vintage Baseball Glove Catalog Source Book", Rawlings began using the "GJF" prefix as a model number on gloves in 1968 and continued using it through the 1970's. Their last cataloged Mantle glove appeared in 1972. I believe that the Bellows Web and the two-tone dark/light brown color combination first appeared in the early 70's and that would be my best guess at an exact date on this glove.
As far as a value, a few things to consider. Condition obviously plays a part in determining a value. The "imported" gloves are far less valued that the ones made in the USA. Being a glove from near the end of his career would also tend to hold the value down. This is likely a "mid-priced" glove, having orginally sold for far less than the top-of-the-line models, and thus not as collectible.
On the plus side, there is always a strong demand for Mantle gloves. This being an unusual model might heighten the interest, as might the unusual color combination and gold stampings, along with the Bellows Web and Wing Tip back. For a clean glove in average used condition, I would say about $50 for this one.