First Hank Greenberg endorsed fielders glove?

Share your antique show, flea market, garage sale, dumpster dive finds in this section. Post pictures of your most recent additions.

First Hank Greenberg endorsed fielders glove?

Postby mikesglove » February 19th, 2013, 6:38 pm

Below is a 1940's Rawlings "Hank Greenberg" model G700X. It was made for Tool Shop & Sporting Goods of Detroit. Greenberg switched from first base to outfield for the Tigers in 1940. I'm not sure if the "X" designation meant it was uncatalogued but it is a really large well made glove.

Image
Image

Image
Image

U. Lippman formed Tool Shop Hardware Co. in 1906 as a supplier of parts and accessories to the burgeoning automobile industry. His son Lee Lippman took over the business and expanded it to include sporting goods. The business was renamed Tool Shop Sporting Goods Co. and later to Lippman's Sporting Goods. The business closed in 1959. They became well known for their fishing gear and carried a full range of outdoor gear. Lee Lippman had a good business sense by marketing to the local Detroit sports teams. Below is a hockey goalie glove.
Image

He developed hockey elbow pads in the 1950's that were first used by the Detroit Red Wings. He also supplied the Red Wings with Jerseys. The Gordie Howe game jersey below carrying the Lippman tag sold for over $20,000 at auction.
Image
Image

Lippman was known for his discounted prices. Fair trade lawsuits were brought against him to no avail. The 1938 Tool Shop catalog page below shows some of the brand name baseball gloves they carried. The gloves were advertised with both a retail price and the discounted Tool Shop price.
Image

The glove below was manufactured by Stall & Dean with the Tool Shop tag on the wrist strap.
Image
User avatar
mikesglove
Hall of Famer Glove Poster
 
Posts: 3693
Joined: July 11th, 2010, 1:27 pm

Re: First Hank Greenberg endorsed fielders glove?

Postby softball66 » February 22nd, 2013, 8:51 am

Whoa Nellie! on that Hank Greenberg fielders glove. I've not seen another. The "X" designation used by Rawlings in that era was either designated experimental or pro stock. I'm guessing that is an RR model, maybe developed later as the MC designation in 1942. Maybe Rawlings made a glove for Hank with his signature and a few extras for Tool Shop in Detroit where Hank was playing. What's the back ground on the glove? eBay?
:?: :?: :?:
softball66
Hall of Famer Glove Poster
 
Posts: 1638
Joined: April 18th, 2006, 11:20 pm

Re: First Hank Greenberg endorsed fielders glove?

Postby mikesglove » February 22nd, 2013, 1:14 pm

softball66 wrote:Whoa Nellie!

That's what I said to myself Joe. It's from ebay. Not great photos, but I could make out "Greenberg" on the pinky and knew the 700 with the "X" designation was something different. Seller was from Michigan so the glove was probably directly from the Detroit Tool Shop. I like the triple tunnel feature. Some of the other uncatalogued models come to mind like the "Bill Brubaker" and "Stu Martin" gloves that also had the triple tunnel web. I'm wondering if the triple tunnel was the "experimental" feature. I posted that photo of Greenberg holding a Rawlings glove in addition to his base mitt in "Good Glove Photos are Hard to Find". May be that Rawlings worked out some sort of short term endorsement with him. Your thoughts?
Last edited by mikesglove on March 6th, 2013, 4:25 am, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
mikesglove
Hall of Famer Glove Poster
 
Posts: 3693
Joined: July 11th, 2010, 1:27 pm

Re: First Hank Greenberg endorsed fielders glove?

Postby softball66 » February 23rd, 2013, 10:48 am

Perhaps Mr. Lippman who owned Tool Shop and Greenberg were good friends and after Hank moved to fielders position, Rawlings "created" this glove for him and Mr. Lippman asked Rawlings to have some Greenberg gloves made to sell in his store. Best guess.
X could have designated experimental as Mike suggests or maybe this is when Rawlings started using "X" for pro stock. I'm not sure
when it started this practice. At any rate this would be a very desirable glove for the Greenberg collectors. Mostly we find the block letter mitt. Since we've all been tracking glove for 20 years this is a rarity and maybe only a few were made.
Along with the Brubaker and Martin gloves, now Dave Cunningham has come up with an obscure player glove : "Lefty" Johns.
Isn't this what makes our hobby so inviting???
:D
softball66
Hall of Famer Glove Poster
 
Posts: 1638
Joined: April 18th, 2006, 11:20 pm

Re: First Hank Greenberg endorsed fielders glove?

Postby okdoak » March 1st, 2013, 4:45 pm

That is a terrific glove Mike. Nice find! I think it's only the second Rawlings I've seen with a triple tunnel web; the other one being a Marty Marion. Love the Tool Shop stamping. It must have been quite the store. Here is their window display from 1945.

Image
User avatar
okdoak
Hall of Famer Glove Poster
 
Posts: 925
Joined: October 11th, 2008, 5:27 pm

Re: First Hank Greenberg endorsed fielders glove?

Postby vintagebrett » March 1st, 2013, 4:51 pm

Like the rolled lace glove in the display
User avatar
vintagebrett
Site Admin
 
Posts: 3150
Joined: April 17th, 2006, 3:57 pm
Location: East Granby, CT

Re: First Hank Greenberg endorsed fielders glove?

Postby stockbuddy » March 1st, 2013, 6:05 pm

That rolled laced web caught my attention too. Neat picture.
:D
Dave
stockbuddy
Hall of Famer Glove Poster
 
Posts: 515
Joined: October 6th, 2006, 4:19 pm
Location: Olney, Illinois 62450


Return to Today I Found... / Vintage Glove Pictures

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 23 guests