Arthur Irwin and the Draper-Maynard Co.

[softball66]

You have to pay a "salute" to the D&M Company, once the "Rawlings" of glove makers. I have two mementos of the company. I have some unsewn "Figure Eight" ball panels the the eccentric collector Andy Michael picked up in Plymouth along with a ball sewing machine. The other is a G92 WITHOUT Chuck Klein's signature. I think maybe this was one of the last gloves produced at the Plymouth plant. The demise there was rather abrupt. It seems many ballplayers gave up on D&M gloves, from Lucky Dog to just . . . dog.

[ebbets55]

Hi All, Carmi ws kind enough to send me a copy of the paper to share with you all. I PDF'd it and uploaded it to the Glove Library (Glove Articles section). It is an interesting read about the history, its roots and importance of the company and its people in Plymouth and Ashland. I learned a few things. Thanks for sharing Carmi.

JD

http://www.baseballglovecollector.com/1/glove-library/

[vintagebrett]

That paper was awesome - should be required reading for all vintage glove enthusiasts. I learned some new things and thought it was neat to read the professors remarks at the end. Would love to see the photo of Babe Ruth stitching the baseball mentioned in the paper. It would also be great to see photos of the life size Nick dog and the D&m wagon and truck.

[mikesglove]

Ruth surrounded by team mates as he stitches a ball at the D&M factory. John Maynard with mustache behind Ruth.

[mikesglove]

I found this photo from an 1890 players guide. Real nice detail of the Irwin gloves. Interesting that even though Draper & Maynard manufactured the Irwin glove, One could contact Arthur Irwin directly through his address at the bottom of the page.

[vintagebrett]

Here is some information on their move from Ashland to Plymouth - this is from a 1900 issue of Sporting Goods Dealer

"The Draper & Maynard Co. of Ashland, New Hampshire, manufacturers of the "D&M" Sporting Goods, have made arrangements to move their plant to Plymouth, NH. They are now erecting a factory 130 feet long by 40 feet wide and four stories high. The power will be steam and the factory will be lighted with electric lights. Much new machinery of the latest design will be added, and when the factory is ready to be occupied it will be modern and up to date in every particular. The change become necessary owing to the increase in the the business. During the past two years, a change has been evident, for so many orders were received, it has been impossible to fall all promptly, although their factory has run many nights. When located in their new and spacious quarters, they will be able to give their customers better attention and will continue to make that high quality of goods which has give the "D&M" brand such a wide reputation. The "D&M" line consists of Caddy Bags, Foot Balls, Boxing Gloves, Striking Bags, Base Ball Mitts, Gloves, etc. The new plant is to be completed early in the fall and will probably be ready for occupancy about November."

[mikesglove]

Store display from 1912. Really large at almost 2 ft. by 4 ft. Brilliant color. About as good as it gets for vintage advertisement memorabilia. Sold at auction quite a while ago for $22,000.

[mikesglove]

D&M refined and improved the original Arthur Irwin catchers mitten dramatically in the decade 1890-1900. Below is a photo that pretty much illustrates that change.


Below is an early ad for the first improved Irwin mitten circa 1891. The "patent pad" of the ad referred to a hardened rubber belting inside at the top of the mitt and thumb. It protected the catchers fingers and kept the inner padding protected and in place. The belting was riveted to the perimeter of the mitt. As an extra precaution, heavy twine was attached inside at the rivets and sewn in through the padding. At this point there was no webbing.


The photo below shows the hardened rubber belting inside the mitt with two rivets holding it in place. The golden color twine inside was used to sew into the padding and secure it in place.



The Grommet web was also introduced in 1891 and was used to compliment the hardened rubber belting by the ability to adjust the thumb closer to the body of the mitten to strengthen the perimeter. The raised heel pad was brought out in 1894 to deepen the pocket and the laced heel introduced in 1895 for padding adjustment. It is clear that D&M had broken ties with Arthur Irwin by 1895 and stated emphatically in the ad below.



The last change to the D&M mitt in that decade was the choice of a riveted strap instead of the grommet web in securing the thumb to the body of the mitt. This permanently formed a pocket and was used many times in conjunction with a sewn palm to reinforce the pocket with a double layer of leather. The designers were clever in bringing the ends of the sewn palm through the cleft of the mitt and riveting it in place.



The original hook and eyelets are still intact as is the heel lacing.




D&M experimented further with the webbing as the patent drawing below from 1908 illustrates. Hugo Goldsmith was the inventor and D&M used this design for a few years on some of their top mitts.




Note the dedicated grommets on the perimeter band used for lacing an adjustable web. This was more or less a transitional design bridging the old D&M grommet web and the modern technique of incorporating a web through the perimeter lacing.

[mikesglove]

below is a glove from the Hall of Fame and dubbed an Irwin model. Note the high quality of construction and the well thought out use of the diverted thumb seam. Some call this full pinky finger design the "stinky pinky" model. Pretty colorful.

[mikesglove]

Messrs. Jason Draper on the left & John Maynard in the Plymouth factory office.


Babe Ruth in fur coat outside the Plymouth factory in a meet and greet session.
.

[mikesglove]

One side note to the D&M patent of 1901. Besides the riveted strap across the top of the mitt, Jason Draper also devised a protective rolled piping along the crotch seam.



The mitt below shows that, although in some areas the piping has worn away. This type of reinforcement wasn't pursued very long although it did reappear as the Dubow "Protecto-Seam" of the "Johnny Mostil" gloves of the 1920's.



The mitt below shows the typical crotch reinforcement on most early mitts.

[mikesglove]

Here is an interesting history of D&M by Chris Hornung. It's well written and researched with new info and photos detailing D&M's humble beginnings and eventual dominance in the manufacture of sporting goods. http://www.antiquefootball.com/draper_maynard.htm

[vintagebrett]

Thanks for the sharing that link, Mike. It was a very informative and interesting read - Chris always does a great job researching the subject he is writing about (just like Mike!).

[mikesglove]

Here's a better photo of glovemakers at the Plymouth factory. Whole lotta gloves!

[atabats]

Here's a video I just stumbled upon about the history of the D & M Sporting Goods Factory by Plymouth State University's Louise McCormack. She was actually born in the Draper house. A worthwhile watch if you haven't seen it already; even if it looks like it was shot on a Handycam from the '80s. So make some popcorn, put on your favourite D & M glove and enjoy. Just don't use the same hand that was in your glove to eat the popcorn; that's gross.

https://archive.org/details/The_Legacy_ ... ting_Goods
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdItX4R5P-w