Help with a Lou Gehrig mitt

[softball66]

Spalding, I believe, was headquartered in New York and Chicopee, Mass.
Reach, of course, made the baseballs in Philadelphia, and Wright and Ditson was in Springfield, Mass and I think made the bats. All were owned by Spalding. And yes, Sears (Higgins) was headquartered in Chicago and seemed to rely on Wilson and Dubow, both Chicago located, for many of
its gloves and mitts. Having close proximity, especially in the early days, with transportation slower, probably made sense to have production close by.
Just a guess. I really don't know where the Spalding gloves were manufactured, in the Reach plant or in the Spalding plant. You can check the location of baseball glove manufacturers in the glove catalog source book pages 3 and 4. At least this was how they were listed in the Sporting Goods Dealer publication annual lists for years.

[Number9]

I was under the impression that Spalding published out of NYC, but the manufacturing was in Chicago. By the turn of the century, Spalding had purchased just about every company that posed a threat to his market share, in the process he spread his influence all over the country.

As for W&D, everything I've seen from them stated their headquarters were on Washington Street in Boston. Chicopee would have been a large manufacturing town around this time as well, so that would also make sense.

Point is, it's not hard to make a product and put someone else's name on it. A practice that is known to have existed at the time of the Gehrig glove's manufacture, and, was probably more common than we currently know about.

[softball66]

No. 9 you're correct. The Spalding Bros. would pickup and eliminate competitors and gain new mfg. facilities. I'm sure Wright and Ditson were
strong in wood products with their golf and tennis, so it would be natural to assume that Spalding turned to them for bats, maybe, maybe not. But I'm fairly certain Spalding wanted the A. J. Reach expertise and plants for making baseballs. Spalding did publish out of New York (guides, catalogs, paper goods). I think Chicopee was the mfg. center you're right about that.
I had not heard that Spalding owned or operated out of Chicago but I could be wrong. I know that into the late 20th century they were operating out of Chicopee. They of course turned to Rawlings in the 1950s to produce their gloves and eventually purhcased Rawlings. In the early 1980s, Spalding bought some USA made gloves from Nocona with the Spalding label. I've sold about two dozen of those. The were "Top Flight" stamping (like the golf ball). If you find something on the Chicago connection would like to know.
Wright and Ditson was in Springfiled Mass for awhile then probably moved into Boston area.
Keep up the good work.

[vintagebrett]

Actually I think it was Victor Sporting Goods that was out of Springfield - they were making bats and gloves to be sold in the Wright Ditson stores and catalogs. Check out the new catalog I uploaded to JD's library and you'll see what I mean.

[Number9]

As of a couple years ago, Spalding still had a design office in Springfield/Chicopee. But that office was only there to service the golf business. I don't think they produce their own baseball equipment anymore. I could be wrong on that.

Spalding started his business in Chicago as a member of the White Stockings. The genesis of the business was in Chicago, if it moved officially, it was well after it's establishment. I've always thought of it as a Chicago brand because that's where it was born. At one point, his Chicago store was the biggest sporting goods store in the world.

[softball66]

Alas, my old brain had forgotten a lot of this about A. G. and his companies. It's hard to wrap your arms around the man and his enterprises.
I had forgotten about Victor company and Brett may be right about them making the bats. Spalding Bros. bought the Wright and Ditson Co, I think primarily for its golf and tennis expertise (and using wood in these specialties and combined it with the new company, Victor, Wright and Ditson with Victor supplying the bats-that's conjecture).
A. G. began his sporting goods venture with a store in Chicago that expanded to other stores across the country while operating the Chicago White Sox.
Now, what I've not learned from googling is when he moved his headquarters back east. And where were the Spalding, Reach gloves made
and did that plant close when Spalding turned to Rawlings in the early to mid 1950s to make gloves.
Yep, I've googled. Surely there's a book on Spalding somewhere. You
guys would be interested in this link. In it it mentions that Spalding came up with the first padded glove and sort of weaved a tale of him producing that (the anecdotal story I remember was the he wore a black glove to distinguish that it was a glove and that his was the first to be worn in the field not that it was padded). The first padded glove I recall was that of Arthur Irwin's at Draper & Maynard in the 1880s when his hand was injured. So apparently Goodwill moved his headquarters from Chicago back East in the New York, Mass. areas. Brett's right likely on the Wright and Ditson being in Boston and later to Springfield Mass when Victor was
added to the Spalding family.
So, still some questions but this has become a good exercise.
http://www.faqs.org/sports-science/Sc-S ... dwill.html

[okdoak]

I read Mark Lamster's "Spalding's World Tour" last winter and there is some info on his early life and his death, but almost nothing about his sporting goods empire. It mentions the Co.'s beginning: "Chicago beckoned as the ideal place for Spalding to launch his empire. There he would be a hometown hero in a booming city at the nexus of America's transportation network" and that he then "purchased controlling interests in his greatest rivals-the Reach Co., Wright and Ditson, Peck and Snyder-allowing them to operate under their own names while letting him all but monopolize the sporting goods market." Evidently he left Chicago in 1900 and moved to San
Diego with his 2nd wife who was a "Theosophist" (there was a whole community of Theosophists there-I'm not making this up!) He made an unsuccessful bid for the Senate in 1910 and died there in 1915. So it sounds like he wasn't very "hands on" with his company esp. during their glove making period that we are all interested in. Good book if you're interested in his far flung effort to bring baseball (and open up new markets for his equipment) to Europe, Australia, etc, though.

[softball66]

Thanks for that update. So, when he moved to San Diego area, wonder who was running the shop in the Northeast as the company had undoubtedly moved hqs there? Maybe his brother, with whom he was partners with.
I guess Spalding is still selling glove and at last was probably importing them like everyone else. Spalding was and is very big in the golf world and also with basketballs where it has great name recognition.
The question I have is, where were the gloves made? Reach plant? Victor, Wright & Ditson. Interesting: in my little Sprting News Guide, Spalding is advertising its "Case Hardened" Bats while A. J. Reach is talking about its Eddie Collins glove,"just a practical glove to assist the player."
Where were the Spalding gloves made shortly before the turn to Rawlings for its gloves? The only designer I remember is Ramey who came up with the Ramey trap.
Just curious about these issues. Keep up the good discussion. . .

[Mr. Mitt]

Now, that we've weighed in with that, how about Bill Diebold's Mizuno
Gehrig mitt (Bill asked me if I had known about 1930s Mizuno gloves of the 1930s and I had owned a 1930s Mizuno mitt and sold it, I believe to Richard Macaluso.
Here's the ebay link on Everything Baseball Gehrig on eBay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... tsupported

Now that this auction has ended, Joe, any thoughts? I'm absolutely shoked that it didn't go higher.

[Mr. Mitt]

Not only am I shoked, I'm shocked too ! ! !

[softball66]

Me too. I thought the combination of being a curio Mizuno-made and definitely a rare Gehrig might put it into 4 figures.
Condition was not great. Maybe some were suspicious that it was Japan made and had a problem with that aspect.
I guess this Gehrig mitt came about with the visit of the ML players to Japan in the late 1930s.

[Mr. Mitt]

Here are a few links linking Gehrig to Mizuno in the 1930's...

http://nyyu.blogspot.com/2006/02/gloven ... aired.html

http://bobdupuy.mlblogs.com/archives/20 ... glove.html

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/print.jsp?ymd=2 ... p&c_id=mlb

[vintagebrett]

Cool stories - thanks for sharing those. I thought this mitt would go a bit higher as well. Too bad it's missing the tag on the back. I bet it will clean up pretty nice and present well with that signature.

[mikesglove]

Spalding, I believe, was headquartered in New York and Chicopee, Mass.
Reach, of course, made the baseballs in Philadelphia, and Wright and Ditson was in Springfield, Mass and I think made the bats. All were owned by Spalding. And yes, Sears (Higgins) was headquartered in Chicago and seemed to rely on Wilson and Dubow, both Chicago located, for many of
its gloves and mitts. Having close proximity, especially in the early days, with transportation slower, probably made sense to have production close by.
Just a guess. I really don't know where the Spalding gloves were manufactured, in the Reach plant or in the Spalding plant. You can check the location of baseball glove manufacturers in the glove catalog source book pages 3 and 4. At least this was how they were listed in the Sporting Goods Dealer publication annual lists for years.

Below is some information regarding Spalding acquisitions. It was disclosed in the 1962 Spalding/FTC lawsuit. I always took it for granted that Spalding's purchase of A.J. Reach circa 1890 was partly a move to acquire the glove making factory in Philadelphia and later in Greensboro, MD. The Spalding and Reach gloves/mitts are almost interchangeable from 1890 on.