M. Denkert & Co.

[mikesglove]

Mitchell Denkert founded M. Denkert & Co. in 1900 in Johnstown, NY. This was one of the famous glove cities of New York whose main industry was tanning leather and making of all type of gloves. M. Denkert was known for the manufacture of leather sporting goods, such as footballs, basketballs and baseball gloves. below is an aerial photo of the factory in Johnstown circa 1950.

Mitchell was in partnership with his two sons, James and Henry and the company flourished through the golden age of baseball. Denkert was the main supplier of dozens of private label brands in addition to the Denkert Brand. Denkert had some major endorsers, such as Mickey mantle and Stan Musial in the 1950's. Pee Wee Reese had at least a dozen different Denkert model number gloves over the years.

James and Henry Denkert secured a number of patents for their glove designs. This 1926 back panel design preceded some of the "KurvForm" designs of 1940

This Denkert glove was made for R.H.Macy Co.

This 1938 patent for the strap finger connector may have been Denkert's most popular invention.

A joined strap finger "Joe Gordon" Marathon model made by Denkert

[mikesglove]

This 1956 patent for a pre-formed pocket was a key invention for Denkert to counter a similar Rawlings design of 1942

This 1955 Danny O'Connell model still has the Pat Pend. stamp for the pre-formed pocket

Denkert catalogs are not easy to come by. This 1949 Smith Bros. Hardware catalog list a full range of Denkert gloves. It is available for download at http://www.baseballglovecollector.com Here are some excerpts:

here is the Rudy York model with a pretty cool looking web.

M.Denkert & Co. closed it doors in 1973 and the factory in Johnstown stood derelict for a number of years. the photo below shows the beginning of the demolition of the buildings in 2010 to make way for an apartment complex.

[softball66]

Oh Wow! Great post! Super pictures Mike! Muchos Gracias! How many kids, adults and collectors have had a Denkert-made (not a Denkert brand necessarily) glove on their hand? Countless! Denkert had to be up there with the most prolific glove producers for 30 or 40 years.
Down she comes . . . there goes the old building where a lot of cowhides were transformed happy times for youthful baseballers!

[mikesglove]

Thanks Joe. While researching the company, I came across a letter written by the granddaughter of Henry Denkert. It was include in a website as part of the history of the Johnstown area. She had some exact dates and personal recollections of the company. At one time the employees numbered 150 and from all accounts, M. Denkert Co. was a good place to work. She expressed some sadness when the doors closed for good. I happened to pick up the images of the demolition from a photographer who posted them on Flickr. There was a fair amount of Denkert info on the web. Joe, I think you are right about Denkert flying somewhat under the radar but in reality being a major glove producer.

Here are a few interesting items. The first is a very early glove box and the second looks to be from the 1950's.

Mint Denkert catchers mitt in original cellophane wrapper

[okdoak]

Great information as usual, Mike. Do you have a graphic for the 1942 Rawlings patent? I swear I've seen one but can't find it now. I have a Rawlings Merril May with the laced down pocket. Think it's interesting that it didn't really seem to catch on until about the mid-fifties. It just wasn't offered on most of Rawlings' models before then except for the Red Rolfe.

[Kenny Wel]

It looks like it would be difficult to retrieve the ball from that pocket quickly to make a fast play.

Ken

[mikesglove]

Do you have a graphic for the 1942 Rawlings patent? I swear I've seen one but can't find it now. I have a Rawlings Merril May with the laced down pocket. Think it's interesting that it didn't really seem to catch on until about the mid-fifties. It just wasn't offered on most of Rawlings' models before then except for the Red Rolfe.

Here is the patent by Elmer Nolte and Harry Latina in 1942. You can see how the pocket lacing is tied into the heel lacing, just like your glove.

[okdoak]

Excellent! Thanks Mike!

[mikesglove]

Greg, how did you get your image to fit across the whole screen? All my images only fit half the screen. I thought the forum site was limited to a certain pixel width and height.

[Number9]

Mike - Greg is linking from photobucket whereas you are uploading to the forum site. There is no size limit with a link, but be careful, sometimes what may seem to be a small photo size will take up the entire screen. I think I usually size my linked photos at 6x6 for use on the forum.

[okdoak]

William's right, I use photobucket. Low tech guy that I am, I run screaming from my computer if it asks me to resize photos. Photobucket already knows that I can't do the impossible.

[mikesglove]

Thanks for the heads up! My present old computer doesn't quite have enough RAM to handle Photobucket flawlessly but it is better in most respects compared to the way I had been doing it. There is a Photobucket add-on available on my Firefox browser that allows a single right click of the mouse on any image on the web to immediately upload it to Photobucket. Pretty cool.

[atabats]

Here’s an informative article on the history of Denkert:

https://www.leaderherald.com/sports/loc ... t-company/

The same reporter did write-ups on J.A. Peach and Ken-Wel too (both good reads); covering the history of glove manufacturing in the Fulton County area of NY at the turn of the 20th century.

A side note; when I first started collecting, I thought Denkert was kind of a loser brand due to the plethora of beat-up ‘50s gloves I would regularly see up on eBay. I was wrong. They had some innovative designs and made quality gloves for years. I just kept seeing the stinkers for awhile. Also, I had no idea Bill Dickey and Red Ruffing actually used Denkert models during their playing careers. I won’t spoil the read for you though so I’ll shut up now.

[mikesglove]

Hey Ata, thanks, nice read. Glad someone else likes digging into glove history. Here's a couple pics of Ruffing with his Denkert glove. Who would have thunk?

[atabats]

You got some kinda eagle vision Mike, wow! Now if we could only find a Dickey photo.