Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

I came across a few of these yesterday. Joe had one on an old Pocket Price Guide too.

JD

Jim, this is the one that I was writing about. Thought the player's name was Jones. Of course, this doesn't mean that there was an imprint or impression on the glove, maybe just creating the effect for the catalog.

Jerry mentioned that one of the earliest flat web gloves with endorsement was Mathewson. Checking thru the CSBook, we can count Wilson's Johnny Evers in 1919; Victor had a "Cobb Model" (maybe no stamping in 1913; Stall and Dean introduced a stable of players including Cobb and Speaker in 1914; it took Spalding' till 1926 to come up with its first, a Frisch; Eddie Collins and Al Reach for Reach in 1923; Doak was one of the first on Rawlings in the early 20s; Goldsmith seemed to have Evers, Chase, Hoblitzel, Meyers, Gowdy in 1915; Walter Johnson may have been the first on D&M in 1917, a few years before Ruth.

Was scrounging through some old files on this very snowy evening and came up with a few gems to share. This first one is of the 1912 Reach catalog where Lajoie, and many other star players of the time, are featured though do not specifically endorse any gloves.

By contrast, the 1912 Stall & Dean catalog not only features Cobb, but specifically show Cobb endorsed gloves, signature stampings and all. How cool would it have been to have his face actually stamped in the pocket!!! The Cobb Speed model from the 20's actually has him in a throwing pose delicately stamped in the leather.

The 1914 S&D catalog continues the Cobb theme and adds Speaker.

Cool topic guys.

I think it will be interesting to see from this forum how far back will be the first endorsements for the old timer glvoes. Once those glove makers found out the endorsements helped to sell their gloves the endorsement theme really took off.

Dave

Similar to the Ratsch ad where Lajoie verbally endorses a glove without actually having his name on the product, Wagner did the same with D&M's G41 prior to Ruth.

Joe Jackson also verbally endorsed D&M in the late teens, pretty certain he didn't write a letter of recommendation!

Lastly, a Goldsmith catalog. I don't have the year documented but it's from the mid to late teens. Matty, Wagner, Johnson, Evers and Snodgrass all endorsing, but not actually on the physical gloves yet. My clippings and scans lead me to believe that S&D and Cobb were the first to actually put an endorsement on a glove in 1912.

OK, found a full page from the 1912 catalog. S&D pulled out all the stops... Handwritten letter from Cobb, photos of Cobb on both the page and gloves as well as signature stampings. The file was too big, so I split the page in two. I'd be surprised if there's one earlier than this.

Jerry, those are some fabulous images and interesting info, especially concerning Honus Wagner and the D&M G41 model. Thought that one started with Ruth.

Remember Babe's first tour of the D&M factory and being a big fan of Honus, chose his model for his own. Even cut the hole out of palm like Wagner. That glove sold in the Halper auction.

To many the Nap Lajoie endorsed glove is the Holy Grail, the most sought after in the hobbyI it is also like the elusive unicorn because there was no solid evidence of an endorsed model being manufactured in that early time period. I came across a 1910 Shapleigh Hardware catalog that hopefully puts that issue to rest. The Diamond Brand G400 glove is the Lajoie Autograph Model. The ad states there is a "Fac Similie of Autograph on Each Glove". The glove was also super expensive for the period at about $6.25 each.

Great find Mike! Very neat looking glove and would be cool for one to surface. interesting that's it's still webless - same as the one from 1906. Was this Lajoie's preference?