Glove of the Week: May 12 – May 18 (Ruth G41)

[burker72]

This is not a cop-out, I know am way behind on my GOTW update, but this week it has to start and end with a single glove. Perhaps one of the top three gloves in the hobby, lagging behind the Ken Wel Gehrig, is the Ruth G41…and this one is beautiful. This glove has an interesting eBay history. The seller offered this very unassuming description:

” This is a D&M G41 Babe Ruth baseball glove from the 20s. with no holes or separations ,leather is in nice soft condition. piping is worn but in good condition. see pictures any questions please ask”

On top of this, the seller had it listed under the “vintage baseballs” category. The first time around it peaked at $1900 and failed to meet reserve, only because of a lack of visibility I’m sure. The glove finally sold for $3,500 by way of the “Buy it now” option.

In this hobby, while there is no certainty about what else is out there, I think we have a pretty good idea where rare gloves like this stand in the pecking order of known pieces. I’d have to say this is one of the best that I’ve ever seen. JD’s site has a couple that are close, and JD’s is probably as nice as we’ll ever see, but I think we have a case of a top glove appearing more or less out of nowhere. A great story and congrats to the buyer.



By the way…the Ken Wel zipper back basemitt that ended on May 18 only hit $788. What was the consensus on this glove? The signature stamping was not clearly shown, but I’m not sure Ken Wel made another zipper back base mitt. I thought it would hit $1500, maybe $2000 but apparently I was way off the mark. You can see the seller made a plea during the auction, kind of wondering where all the action was. Here is a link to the glove…any thoughts?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lou-Gehrig-Zipper-B ... dZViewItem

[Rickybulldog]

Nice post Burker. I've always loved the GOTW. I'm assuming the seller put the Gehrig information out there to let people know what that style of mitt with that endorsement goes for. Possibly to raise the bar a little because of it's rarity. I think the seller wanted people to get a mitt similar to Gehrig's for half the price in a sense. When I first read it I took it as he didn't want people bidding on the zipper back and expecting it to be a Gehrig. I know we haven't seen another zipper back endorsed by anyone else, but it looked like the seller was trying to cover all the bases without screwing others. Just my 2 cents.

[Deacon]

Isn't this the same Gehrig (zipperback 3) shown on JD's website with the unknown owner? It also seems to match up to the zipperback 1.

[vintagebrett]

According to the Glove Catalog Source book, in 1934 Ken-Wel made a zipper back glove that was not endorsed by Gehrig - it was simply a professional model. So it is possible that it was not a Gehrig model. Still, any zipper back glove is rare and I was surprised no one made a bigger push to buy it.

[GloveCrazy]

I seem to recall that a very similar version of this glove sold on ebay a couple of years ago for around what this ended at. I was not shocked that it was bid this high, and also not shocked that it didn't go for more. I'm also not surpised that much that Ken-Wel had a non endorsed version. They also have a zipperback catchers mitt that may or many not be endorsed.

[Deacon]

In comparing the zipperbacks on JD's site, I think the mitt in question is more likely to be the Gehig model. It matches up to the Gehrig zipperback 1, including the earlier style and location of the label (tag) as well as the holes for the tie string. Zipperbacks 2 & 4 show the later label. It also matches up to the KenWel Gerhig ad signs.

[Mike**Mize]

I spent some time on the phone with the seller leading up to my deciding to take advantage of the "Buy It Now" option on the G41. He mentioned the Ken-Wel zipperback which at that time was newly listed. The gist of his comments was that there was no visable endorsement on the glove. He thought there was a good chance it was a Gehrig, but felt that it would end up selling just about the way it did. Those were his expectations for the glove. This same glove was offered a few years ago on eBay. It's been around.
As far as the G41's concerned, I have to keep pinching myself. I never expected to have a shot at such a nice example of the D&M G41. Speaking initially with the seller when I started thinking it might actually be possible really strengthened my resolve to go ahead with the purchase. These beauties don't come around all that often. I posted some pictures of it on JD's site if anyone wants to get a closer look at it.

[stockbuddy]

Mike, Beautiful Babe Ruth glove. That is a top shelf glove in anyone's collection. Congrats.

Dave