To Japan with love

[mikesglove]

A couple cool Franklin "Backhander" model gloves circa 1969. They features the double seam finger stalls. The Franklin glove was based on a Rosenberg patent from 1968.

Besides the patented double seams the glove feature a really stylish wrist strap design.

A Franklin "ContourFinger" fastback model identical to the patent drawing below

Below is a Stall & Dean catalog illustration of the double finger seam model from 1948. Stall & Dean may have been the first to use that design. It was meant to emphasize the natural curve form of the fingers.

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A King brand Bud Harrelson glove with an interesting take on the contoured finger stalls.

A Sport King glove with a knock off HOH logo. Sport King was a brand distributed by the importer National Sporting Goods Corp. of New Jersey

A 1950's Hurricane brand glove with one of my favorite cloth patches.

A 1950's ad for Hurricane Imports of San Francisco which distributed the glove.

[mikesglove]

Some cool Mizuno gloves. They were founded in 1906.
A triple threat model. It features a King patent style wrist lacing, a Denkert patent style back panel and a Doak style web lacing. All in one glove!

Another model with the Doak web lace. Mizuno adopted the Trophy logo in 1917.

[mikesglove]

A Mizuno catchers mitt with an A.J. Reach inspired "Fastback" design and a Decker patent finger/thumb guard.

Another Reach inspired glove with a strap web. Interesting that the web attachment isn't sewn to the back of the forefinger stall like the Reach models but rather swung around to the inner forefinger seam.

After the war leather hides were hard to come by in Japan so Mizuno made some of their gloves predominately with fabric.

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A circa 1920 Mimatsu glove. Formed in the 1880's, Mimatsu was one of the first sporting goods manufacturers in Japan.

An early ad for Mimatsu baseball equipment circa 1920.

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Rawlings thought so highly of their Trapeze model glove that they filed for both a design and a utility patent in 1958 and approved both in 1960. The design patent was unique in that the glove pocket extended way up the finger stalls.

The Rawlings prototype glove below reflects that design patent.

Melvin Heiman of Hilcrest Sporting Goods patented his own version of a joined finger glove in 1965. Besides the joined fingers the Heiman patent glove had a unique web that was an extension of the thumb and forefinger stalls.

I couldn't find an example of that glove. Once the patent expired in 1980, Akadema cited it in their "Reptillian" model gloves.

Hillcrest Sporting Goods of New York was an import agent for various U.S. sporting goods companies. One of their clients was Trio Sporting Goods of Chicago. Trio was formed by three former concentration camp survivors who immigrated to the U.S. in 1945. Trio/Hillcrest imported gloves made in Japan using leather supplied by A.J. Hollander Co. of New York, a major exporter of leather hides.
Below is an example of a Trio Hollander glove.

[mikesglove]

Below are ads for a Trio Hollander Bobby Mercer model glove and a Regent model 5900. They look identical, have the same two piece palm and more than likely from the same manufacturer in Japan. Regent was also a major sporting goods importer.

Below a Trio example. The two piece palm similar to 1968 Wilson A2000 glove.

Note that the cloth patch is missing the Hollander name. Trio and Hollander split at some point and each developed separate lines of gloves and mitts.

Below a Hollander Sandy Koufax Personal Model glove. This is one of the more popular and collectible import models.

[mikesglove]

A.J. Hollander was sanctioned by the FTC in New York in 1960 for using MLB player endorsements without permission on Japanese gloves made for Cambridge and Olympic brands. Hollander eliminated the endorsements and put out a line of gloves based on cities.
The Los Angeleno model.

The Buffalonian model.

The San Franciscan model

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From a post many years ago. AHI brand gloves were mostly lower line models. they did make a top line model however and called it the "Imperial". here it is compared to a Wilson Ted Williams model 2040 for the 1950's. They are nearly identical with the AHI model having an upgrade to eyelets on the finger stalls.

[mikesglove]

Some neat models from here and there.
A Regent Curt Simmons Autograph model 5127 glove. You could do a lot of searching pages of ebay gloves before you find one of these. The glove design is indebted to patents from OK Mfg., Sonnett and Denkert.

A Mizuno "Double Web" model glove. This is a modern era glove you can find somewhat easily on the web. It too cites the OK Mfg., Sonnett and Denkert patents. It's kind of weird and wonderful. I like it!

A Rawlings Brooks Robinson model KMDC glove. Most of the KM series gloves made for K-Mart were mid line models made in the USA. This one however was made in Japan and features the Double-Ca-Thud pocket. You would have to search high and low to find one of these for sale. It's a cool glove!