Innovative Glove & Mitt Designs

[mikesglove]

The Rawlings "Gibson Mitt" debuted in 1914. It was distinctive in the tapering of the perimeter banding to form a thin leading edge at the top. This was a useful design in scooping up low balls. The face of the mitt was molded and a reinforced wrist strap was added to the back.


Below is the Rawlings patent for this design issued in 1913. Although John Gamble of A.J. Reach patented the molded face mitt in 1906, the inner padding was uniform and not tapered. Gamble's main concern at the time was forming a deep set pocket. The Rawlings design can be seen as an improvement.


This catalog illustration from 1924 shows "The Gibson" scoop model still being manufactured.



The 2 photos below show a Rawlings mitt stamped "The Gibson Mitt" at the heel.





The name "Gibson Mitt" came about as a reference to the star Pittsburgh catcher of the day, George Gibson.

[mikesglove]

Just putting the finishing touches on a Goldsmith project. I will post it soon. Find out what is with that patent date on a lot of vintage Goldsmith mitts. March 22, 1910.

[mikesglove]

The Rawlings patent above also featured a redesign of the wrist strap in 1913. Most of the other sporting goods manufacturers also improved the wrist strap padding and placement of the buckle between 1909-1914.


The patent below of 1909 was from John Gamble as assignor to A.J. Reach Co. The sewn glove section of the mitt include an extension of leather under the wrist strap buckle. Simple but effective and very similar to the Rawlings design above.




The Goldsmith patent of March 22, 1910 featured a few variations of a padded wrist strap. Some pads were sewn directly to the mitt and others were loose and held in place by the wrist straps. The patent date was commonly stamped on the majority of the Goldsmith mitts and some fielders gloves throughout the years.




This patent below is one of my favorites. It is from William Sell in 1914. Sell Sporting Goods was in operation early in the last century and was bought out by Thomas Wilson in 1918. The buckle and strap in this patent is a fairly elaborate arrangement combining the strap and pad in one unit. To me, it is really unique.

[mikesglove]

I was always curious about this 1916 patented feature on Goldsmith mitts. It was called the "Finger Grip Model" The raised finger pad/grips were not something you could see from the outside. Goldsmith used this design for many years on their top mitts.

[mikesglove]

Below is a Goldsmith "Professional Model" catchers mitt with "Finger Grip Model" boldly stamped at the bottom. This is a 1916-17 Pat. Pending mitt and has an interesting buckle web with metal eyelets. That was something unique to Goldsmith in the mid to late teens. This one was made for Edw.Tryon Sporting Goods and has the Tryon keystone logo and model number 40B near the pocket.



The finger grip pads are up inside the finger stalls and seem very effective at gaining leverage to manipulate the mitt. I love the olive leather back with the contrasting tan lacing, brown leather face and white on black Tryon tag.

[mikesglove]

Below is a cross section of a glove showing the patent invention of Walter Tompkins for Nokona in 1954. The gist of the patent was wrapping the felt heel padding with a leather sheath and sewing the sheath permanently into the heel piping. This was done to keep the heel pad from collapsing and migrating into the pocket.


The catalog page below from a 1956 Nokona catalog illustrates two variations of a deep set pocket. The Bob Milliken model on the left has the traditional pocket lacing introduced in the early 1940's. The Bob Lemon model on the right was a result of the Walter Tompkins patent. The pocket lacing was eliminated in favor of a two section face sewn together with a welted seam. Normally a pocket face was formed in the factory with steam and a form press. Leather would only stretch so much and the two piece design allowed for the deepest pocket possible at that time. That was something Nokona touted in their marketing literature for this glove.


Below is a Bob Lemon model G54 with the patented "Leather Anchored Pad". The pocket is extra deep compared to other Nokona gloves I have.


This glove also has extra long fingers intended for outfielders and pitchers.

[mikesglove]

Variations of the Nokona two piece pocket design from 1954 was used by Rawlings and Wilson Sporting Goods in the 1960's. Below is a page from the 1962 Rawlings catalog. Their "Dual Step Down Palm" model TGP was designed to create a deeper pocket.





This Wilson model 2801 base mitt is from a 1960 catalog. The Wilson two piece pocket wasn't manufactured very long.

[mikesglove]

Below is a 1962 ad for the Rawlings two piece face gloves and mitts.


The model DCT base mitt was probably the most popular and long lived of the Rawlings two piece face designs. DCT was an acronym for "Double Ca-Thud" pocket. The patented design was one of Harry Latina's greatest innovations.


Below are two examples. The first is a mint Rawlings and the second is a rare Spalding version, the Super Professional "Super Snare" model.

[mikesglove]

Wilson Sporting Goods did make a two piece face fielders glove. They were a little late in the game and introduced their new A2000 model in 1967. The original A2000 design was so wildly successful beginning in the late '50's that Wilson may not wanted to mess with success. Anyway, below is a nice full page 1967 ad for their new design.


Below is an example not often found at auction or for sale.

[mikesglove]

An interesting 1928 catalog ad for the D&M Hugh Critz model G97X. The "stay seam reinforcement" in the description is from a Rueben Raymond patent of 1922. Raymond referred to his design as the "double diverted seam".


You can see the patented design clearly in the photos below. The G97X was D&M's flagship model back in the day. It's a cool glove and not often seen.

[mikesglove]

From a 1925 Reach catalog. A pretty cool looking model CN glove with an innovative lacing scheme


From a 1926 reach catalog. A model BB glove with some really zany lacing.


Both model CN and BB come from this patent by William Barrett. He provided some interesting lacing variations.


The two gloves below show partial versions of the Barrett patent.

[mikesglove]

Below is a 1912 Wm. Read catalog page of newly designed infielders mitts.
The mitts are all glove thumb models meaning a sewn on thumb not connected to the perimeter lacing.
The real innovation is the back view, something catalogs rarely illustrate.


Below is the back view of an actual mitt illustrated on that catalog page. The by-pass lacing creates an independent thumb articulation. Pretty cool!


Below is an add for the D&M Buzz Artlett base mitt model 651 of 1934. The glove thumb model was re-introduced with the by-pass lacing.


There were a couple of other endorsers of this D&M model 651, one being Babe Dahlgren. Below is an example with description. This mitt is available if interested. Contact me at mtinney@sbcglobal.net. It's a killer mitt!

[mikesglove]

A page from a 1912 Stall & Dean catalog showing a cutaway view of a glove on the right. I never heard of the Cameron Patent so I looked it up.


The 1912 patent drawing shows the placement of metal weights sewn into the top of the finger stalls. The weights have two purposes, first is to provide momentum for the fingers closing on a caught ball and second is as a finger guard.

[mikesglove]

The 1912 Stall & Dean catalog was full of good stuff. Here is another page showing fielders gloves with heel & side lacing. The design was for easy access to the padding inside the glove. Pretty cool!


Not many of these out there.

[mikesglove]

Ted Kennedy' was one of the most if not THE most prolific and innovative inventors/glove makers of his day. He easily rivals Jason Draper and the breadth of Kennedy's innovations to gloves, base mitts and catchers mitts is amazing. Here are a few, circa 1905. Some other fascinating photos are in the Ted Kennedy 1907 portfolio in the catalog section at http://www.baseballglovecollector.com


Below is a catchers mitt with webbing consisting of two riveted straps connected with lace.


Below is one of Kennedy's "full round" catchers mitt designs.