As baseball gear became more popular and widespread, Adolf Slomka jumped on board and was issued a patent in 1897 for a catchers mitt with a wire reinforcement placed in the perimeter rolled piping.
The name of the business was changed to S. Slomka & Sons & Co. as two other brothers joined in partnership to expand into the sporting goods market. This attracted the attention of a large sporting goods dealer of New York, Schoverling, Daly & Gales. SD & G contracted with S. Slomka for various canvas and leather hunters gear and also baseball gloves. The gloves were sold under the S.S. Brand in the SD & G catalogs beginning in 1898.
Below is a Sportemen's trade show exhibit of SD & G
Due to the intense competition from the large sporting goods manufacturers of the day, S. Slomka & Sons incurred a lot of debt and were only able to stay in business till 1901. They filed for bankruptcy and their assets were sold in 1902. The SD & G catalog page below is from 1901 and features A.J. Reach equipment. Interesting to note the description of the catchers mitts as having a double reinforced edge. It shows Adolf Slomka was on the right track just unable to compete with the big boys.
