by BretMan » December 7th, 2007, 1:39 am
I went and checked the Higgins French photo, and that is exactly what my glove looks like between the first two fingers. Only mine looks like that between the last two fingers, too.
With the stitched cotton thread pocket, that makes me think it's a softball model. But, so far, I haven't been able to find the word "softball" in the stampings. It might be there- this glove is pretty grungy and the stampings are really obscured.
Wiping the pocket with a damp sponge, and holding the glove under a bright light this evening, revealed a couple more clues. I'm starting to think that the stampings are a little further gone than was my first impression.
What I first thought was the "th" in "Goldsmith turned out to be the letters "oh" in "OHIO". The font looks exactly like the font used on "OK" gloves in their "ADA, OHIO" stamping. I'm pretty sure now that this is an "Ohio-Kentucky/OK" model. Which is great, because I am an "OK" fan!
The other thing that I can read clearly is the number "2417996" in about the center of the palm. Could be a patent number? Model number?
Interestingly, a couple of weeks ago I saw a glove being sold on eBay that had a stitched pocket, where the seller claimed it specifically was not a softball model. He based that claim on the fact that the word "softball" was not stamped on the glove, and also claimed to have knowledge that the particular model was marketed and sold as a baseball glove. How he knew that, I don't know. I can't recall ever seeing any gloves with a stitched pocket that seemed to be baseball models.
I have at least a half dozen old softball models with the stitched pocket and always thought it was strange that this feature wasn't used on baseball gloves. The stitching forms a nice pocket, which seems like a good idea for any glove. While this stitching was used on softball gloves dating from the thirties, it wasn't until the early 50's that similar "cupped pockets" started to appear on baseball gloves, with leather lacing being used to shape the pocket instead of cotton thread.
Anyhow, it's an odd glove and I'll try to find out what I can about it. I'll probably post an update on the "General Discussion" board- as not to further hog into the "Glove of the Week" thread!