Help with Buckle Back Catcher's Mitt??

[wjr953]

A friend of mine just handed over a very old "pillow" type, buckle back catcher's mitt. The glove was fairly filthy since it's seems to have been around a while, but it's not in really horrible shape. I cleaned the glove very carefully with Lexol PH and Permatex Fast Orange, and the only writing that I can make out clearly on the glove is "Frank Hayes". Now in checking the mlb.com website, there is a Frankie Hayes that played in MLB until 1947, and he was a catcher. My question to you guys is this, do you know what company may have made this glove? If so, did it come through with a web? The mitt I have does not have a web, although it does have a very small "V" opening between the thumb and index finger slots. Any help that you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated. This glove would look nice with a rolled rawhide web, has anyone tried doing that to a catcher's mitt? How hard is it to do a rolled rawhide web, what's involved? Anyone care to offer any insights? Thank you everyone.

Very best regards, br

[wjr953]

Can anybody offer me anything? Pictures, information, suggestions of this type of Mitt? I'm thinking it might be a Spalding.

br

[MTGLOVEGUY]

Hi, not positive on the number of brands that carried his endorsement but I am sure it is quite a few as he is listed as common in the pocket price guide, I have a few gloves indorsed by him and I want to say they are MacGregor Goldsmith and maybe Denkert, I'll look and see. Try putting some Horsemans One Step on the palm area and work it in real good, it might bring some of the markings back out. BJ

[vintagebrett]

I've also seen his endorsement on Denkert and some of their off shoots.

[wjr953]

Well, after doing a whole lot more cleaning and much more research, this one turns out to be an Em-Jay Model M28, Frank Hayes trademark catcher's mitt. I have re-conditioned and re-laced it, but I still have to put one more strand of rawhide across what I would refer to as a "mini" open web. In other words, by putting that last piece of rawhide across, to bridge the top of the gap on the web's "V" opening, it closes it enough so that a ball could never fit through there. As soon as I get the last part done, I will post some pictures. This sure has been an interesting experience for me. When I got the mitt, it was totally black in color, now it's pretty much a beautiful rich chestnut brown. Also when I got it, it was stiff as a board, now it's soft as butter. The leather came back really, really nice. The glove now feels good on your hand, whereas the first time I put my hand in it, I just cringed. Stiff, scratchy, filthy, yuk. What an amazing old mitt it's turned out to be. The friend that I'm doing this for is going to be totally shocked when he sees this one, it doesn't look anything at all like the mitt that he handed to me a couple of weeks ago. I'm so glad that it turned out so well. You see, this mitt belonged to his grandfather. It has a lot of sentimental value to him for two reasons, 1) because it was handed down to him by someone that was very special to him, and 2) because his 9 year old son also catches, (he was one of the players that I coached this past year). It sure would be special to experience the young man catching with the same mitt that his great-grandfather used so many years ago. Gosh, I do love this game.

VBR, br

[Cowboy7130]

Dang, that is a good story!

[BretMan]

If memory serves (no reference books on hand) Em-Jay was indeed one of the Denkert "offshoots"- another private label brand for whom Denkert produced their gloves. The model number is certainly consistent with the Denkert practice of the 30's and 40's- the letter "M" on catcher's mitts followed by two or three digits.

One nice thing about restoring older mitts is that, once you remove the perimiter lacing, the whole thing comes in half and you can condition the backside of the leather- leather that hasn't seen the light of day for sixty or seventy years. That goes a long way toward softening up those dried out old mitts!

[wjr953]

Props to VintageBrett for nailing this one. You never fail to amaze me dude. As far as the glove coming apart in halves, you're exactly right about that Bretman. The things that I always think about when I work on gloves like this are: Where was this glove made? What was happening in the world during the time that this glove was being assembled? We know that Frankie Hayes played until 1947, so this glove was quite probably made in the Post WWII era. What was that person thinking/experiencing in his/her life when that glove was closed up back in 194?. In how many games was this glove used? Did anybody famous ever use it? Where has it been in the last 60+ years? I guess this is the part of experiencing vintage gloves that makes it such a different and unique experience. As weird as it sounds, I always handle these kinds of gloves/mitts with great respect and admiration. Having such a piece of history in ones hands is quite an awesome responsibility, and that should never be taken lightly.

br