Special Order Gloves.

[mikesglove]

A 1955 Bob Grim Personal Model 2054 glove. Purported to be a Jackie Robinson gamer from 1955-56. I think Wilson used that red/white logo patch for only a year.

Yankee pitcher Bob Grimm didn't have a catalog offering of a personal model glove. The earliest mention of the model 2054 is the Early Wynn glove of 1956.
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[mikesglove]

A 1961 catalog listing of the Rocky Colavito personal model 42-203. It was Spalding's top of the line glove. The glove was a one year only model but lived on as a special order because the glove pattern proved to be popular with MLB players. Sandy Koufax used the Colavito glove during the 1966 season.


Other players also used the 42-203 glove. Below is a Bobby Mercer special order gamer with a Carl Yastrzemski Personal Model endorsement. This one features the H-web.



Below is a Don Drysdale Personal Model 42-203 gamer.

[mikesglove]

A 1966 Rawlings ad for the Ken Boyer/Brooks Robinson MVP model glove. Beside a couple of softball models, this was Rawlings only baseball glove with the Big Wheel web.

Below is a 1966 special order Rawlings model PLW glove made for Harvey Kuenn. It has all the features of the Boyer/Robinson glove and an additional upgrade to the HOH leather.

[mikesglove]

Rawlings introduced the X-web Big 8 glove in 1964. The ad shows the eight MLB players who promoted the glove. The Big 8 retail model can easily be found on ebay these days.


Not so easily found is the upgraded version available to the MLB. Below is a photo of Ken Boyer with a Rawlings X-web model glove. Note the V-anchored web, not available on the retail version.


The glove below is a 1964 Rawlings Ken Boyer gamer. It's an X-web HOH model DG. The DG refers to Dick Groat, one of the Big 8 promoters.

[mikesglove]

Eddie Mathews with a Rawlings H-web glove.

At first I thought it may be the XPGH model of 1968. Upon closed inspection, there is no H-Web stamp on the thumb stall and the spiral lacing is cinched around the H-web strap. So more than likely he's using the mantle model XPG6-H.

Below is a photo of Mantle with the same spiral wrapped H-web strap.

[mikesglove]

A cool Tommy Henrich Rawlings glove from the 1940's. The glove was made special for him by Rawlings and is facsimile stamped on the pinky and wrist strap. The glove features a rolled lace web and double laced fingers. The finger lacing is unusual in that the grommets are only on the front. That design was a Rawlings patent from the 1930's. The idea was that the fingers could slide sideways along the lacing to better capture a fly ball. The Henrich glove is an updated version of the Billy Herman model BH of the mid 1930's when the patent was first approved. The Henrich glove sold multiple times on REA, each time increasing in price. It topped out around $1800. The glove originally was from the Henrich estate sale.

[mikesglove]

Does anyone have an idea who manufactured this mitt. It was described as a Rawlings base mitt from 1952. I'm not convinced about that. I couldn't find it in any catalogs. The mitt is sort of a cross between a trapper and a conventional design with a monster web.

[okdoak]

The only thing that looks familiar to me is those big rivet looking things on the web straps. Pennant used them on their 50's to 60's gloves that were made by Denkert? The spiral laced top seems odd for 1952, but I don't know much about basemitts.

[mikesglove]

Thanks Greg. I did a little more looking. There is a seller on ebay with user name Mantiques and baseball that has tons of old baseball ads. I found some Wilson ads from 1960 that were really close to the photo I posted. The "Tru Trap" mitts were only made for a couple of years. It's a cool style.



Below is a model 2764 from ebay

[mikesglove]

I thought the photo I posted of the 1952 Rawlings? Jimmie Foxx coaches mitt was a special order from the company. It actually was an import knockoff of the Wilson Tru Trap design from 1961-62. The Foxx mitt was a '61-62 Johnny Walker import model B8000 with a tag that had some similarities to Rawlings.
The foxx mitt on top and a Johnny Walker on the bottom.

Some other photos of a Johnny Walker mitt from ebay. Glove branding certainly got weird with the advent of import models. Brett started a thread on "Who made what for whom" that is interesting.
https://www.vintagebaseballgloveforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1862

[okdoak]

Jeez. That's just shameless. It made me think of those imported McGraw gloves that use the same font style as Macgregor. Though in all fairness, a lot of the Macgregor's were imports by that time anyway.

[mikesglove]

Below is a Tommie Agee game glove from 1969. The glove is displayed with other Mets memorabilia from the fabulous 1969 World Series. It is a Johnny Callison Autograph Model 42-517X. I was looking through Joe Phillip's Glove Source Book and Spalding seemed to reserve the 42-5__ numbers for special orders. None of the fielders gloves from the Spalding catalogs went up that high in their numbering.

[mikesglove]

Spalding Rico Petrocelli gloves were found as a lower line model in the retail catalog. Below is a top of the line Personal Model 42-515.

[mikesglove]

a Spalding Joe Pepitone model 42-421 from the later 1960's. This is a model found in the catalog. It features the "Wonder Web" and "Control Action" back.

Below is a special order Joe Pepitone Super Snare Professional model 42-552 mitt with "Super Flex" web and Double-Ca-Thud pocket.

[greaseape]

Mikesglove, The special order Spalding Pepitone mitt you have shown was apparently given by Pepitone to a family friend along with an unused mid 60s pro issue Pepitone Louisville Slugger and an autographed baseball. I was able to acquire the mitt and bat and while I can't be certain the story is true, I have no reason to doubt it given the professional nature of the items in question. Here are a couple of photos of Pepitone wearing what looks like the same mitt. Of course without seeing the palm stampings it's impossible to determine if it is an actual special order Pepitone model or a regular Spalding 42-401 catalog model.