Pre War Hall Of Fame Catchers Mitts

[MTGLOVEGUY]

Ok along the same line of the first base mitt thread earlier, what or who is the toughest endorsed Catchers mitt out there?

[vintagebrett]

I think that all of the catchers that have endorsed gloves are pretty common (Dickey, Cochrane, Lombardi, Schalk, Hartnett) - Rick Ferrell might be a tough one but I've seen a couple of his. I'm pretty sure a Roger Bresnahan or Buck Ewing don't exist. And of course the Negro League players would be toughies as well.

[ebbets55]

I think Chief Meyers leads the league in scarcity followed by Hank Severeid and Bubbles Hargrave probably. A Bresnahan find would be incredible and would go for a lot. Would love to have one of those.

JD

[MTGLOVEGUY]

I would have to agree with all but the Schalk, and the Lombardi, as in trying to work on my HOF mitts and gloves,I have rarely seen those offered, compared to the Dickey, Cochrane, Hartnett. I guess I probably shouldn't use Ebay as the basis on this...., guess thats why I asked the question. I did manage to pick up a nice Schalk however after looking for quite a while. JD knowing your a huge endorsment collector do you want my Bubbles Mitt?

[vintagebrett]

I've had a couple Schalk gloves over the past couple years and have seen quite a few on eBay as well. The newer models (40's and 50's) seem to be a lot more easier to obtain than his earlier endorsement. Lombardi is not as common as the others but his still pop up with some frequency.

[ebbets55]

Beej, I'm so not an endorsement collector. It needs to say Ruth on it for me to get excited. I have sold off most of my endorsed gloves. I think Schalks and Lombardis are quite common. I don't need a Bubbles mitt. I already have one. Thanks though.

JD

[MTGLOVEGUY]

JD, I know your not and endorsement guy and thats why I am hoping you'll part ways with your Bubbles as mine is a piece of crap. Little birdie said you don't like ORANGE gloves either.

[softball66]

I may be wrong but I don't think "Chief" Myers nor Severid and Hargrave are in the Hall of Fame but yes very prominent catchers of their time.
Dickeys are very, very common. Schalk because of the later editions show up often enough. It seemed that the Cochranes were difficult in the earlier days of collecting.
Hartnetts, Lombardis are around and Ferrell a little bit more tougher.

[crackofthebat]

I have run across two or three Hank Severeid catchers mitts over the years. They were all Nokonas from the 40's or 50's - long after his playing days had ended. Didn't realize they were so rare.

[ebbets55]

Thanks for putting me in my place Joe ; ). I wasn't thinking about HOF catchers, just catchers endorsements. I guess I didn't read the original post very well. There's a guy in Long Island with a Henry Severeid D&M catchers mitt from the 1920's. That was the only one I heard of so I thought they were rare. Fred, I just checked my Nokona list and apparently I have a Henry Severeid CM40. Go figure. I forgot about him being on Nokona mitts. Thanks guys.

JD

[nygiants]

I would have to go with Ray Hayworth, Mickey Grasso, Mike Gonzalez, Hugh Poland, Zack Taylor & Chief Meyers being the hardest catcher's mitts to find in any condition. None are in the HOF.

[softball66]

JD , your places is at the top of my list. I had to sort of think about those guys to recall if they were HOF. And I misspelled Meyers and Severeid.
Wasn't Hank the first to enlist in WWI and WWII. Very interesting guy and a book should be done on him. Miracle Braves too. Never figured out how he got to be a Nocona endorser, maybe ran into Bob Storey somewhere in Texas.
Funny story about Mickey Grasso. Mickey evidently after leaving baseball became a bar tender in Florida and a friend of mine ran into him there at the bar. My bud, says, "ever hear of Mickey Grasso?" Yeah. "Well he tends bar in and he's one tough cookie."
Lot of catchers got endorsements that maybe they wouldn't have had because there were more catchers mitt models around than there were on the rosters (usually 3 carried) in MLBaseball.
Just picked up an Elston Howard Rawlings I gotta clean up.

[softball66]

In my previous post I've mentioned how so many catchers got their names on catchers mitts because of the many styles and models and few catchers available.
I just picked up a Rawlings DB15 Elston Howard mitt and wanted to check the DB15 background. Look at the different players who have had their name on this mitt from its introduction in 1959:
1959: Steve Korcheck
1960: Gene Green
1961: Dale Long
1962-'63: Sherman Lollar
1964-'68:Earl Battey
1969-'71: Jerry May
1972: Ray Fosse
Strange, but no Elston Howard listed on the mitt in the catalog source book.

[vintagebrett]

I had a nice Mike Gonzalez mitt at one time - it was a high quality Ken-Wel glove. Neat endorsement - very large block endorsement in an interesting shape. Picked it up with a mint in the box Worth ball from the same era (1920's). Still have the ball but sold the mitt to a Cubs collector.