This is a story of three individuals intertwined in the world of nineteenth century baseball. it is a story of catcher Joe Gunson, a stand-up guy, pitcher Ted Kennedy , an interloper, and a brilliant but ultimately deranged catcher, Harry Decker. The story involves the specific invention of a mitt to protect catchers from foul tips splitting open fingertips, bruised and breaking fingers, and also speaks to the niche nineteenth century catchers inhabited where multiple concussions to the head, blindness and death by blunt force trauma occurred and was part of life in the early years of baseball when protective equipment was minimal.
Joe Gunson of the Kansas City Blues was asked to catch on a day he had a crippled finger on his left hand. He quickly sewed together the fingers of a left hand glove, thus practically making a mitt and he caught two games. It worked out so well, Joe took an old paint can wire handle and placed it at the top of the fingers of his glove. He bound the wire to the glove with a roll of flannel belting, placed sheepskin padding around the palm of the glove and placed the glove securely inside a buckskin sleeve he had sewn together.
- Gunson mitt from Hall of Fame exhibit. thanks, William
- Gunson1.jpg (56.82 KiB) Viewed 16953 times
Joe's mitt was used by other catchers and proved to be quite a success. Joe asked his manager James Manning to initiate the patent for half interest in the mitt but Manning was to leave on a world tour with the Spalding baseball team. Joe out of loyalty decided to wait for his return. During a game against the Omaha club, Joe foolishly explains his invention to the Omaha pitcher, Ted Kennedy. Sometime after, Ted Kennedy applies for a patent for a wire protected mitt
The "Kennedy Patented Mitt" was featured in a circa 1892 Frederick A. Field Co. advertisement for a whopping $10. A lot of money at the time. The construction of the mitt was intricate and time consuming. The ad boasts of the Kennedy mitt Being the only glove made with a fingers and thumb protection guard
The fatal flaw in the Kennedy design was the patent was only for the wire reinforcement, not the mitt itself. Harry Decker, catcher for the Chicago team sensed Kennedy's mistake and immediately patented his version without the wire. Harry Decker's invention was called the "Decker Safety Mitt" and featured a heavily padded front with a thick leather back and seam along the top edge. Joe Gunson had also eliminated the wire reinforcement in his mitt long before and grudgingly recognized the Decker mitt as the better design
The Decker mitts were instantly popular and commonly refered to as "Deckers" by the ball players. The $5 advertised price was half the cost of the Kennedy mitts.
- catcher with the Decker mitt and throwing glove circa 1890
As brilliant and resourceful as he was, Harry Decker's life eventually took a turn for the worst as he slowly descended into a life of deranged and criminal behavior. He was well known in the Chicago press for delusional antics and hallucinations. Decker eventually served time in San Quentin prison. He had been written off as always having criminal tendencies but in August 2010, a medical article re-evaluated that niche of nineteenth century catchers and the continual blows to the head causing a medical condition called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy which resulted in madness, addiction and criminal behavior.
Joe Gunson's fortunes turned for the better when his mitt along with verification from seven witnesses was accepted by the Hall of Fame as the original invention of a catchers mitt.