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Collectibles |
NEWSLETTER |
September 2019 |
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Lessor Known and In-Store Brand
Baseball Gloves |
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Steven KeyMan |
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By Steven KeyMan |
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Founder of
Keymancollectibles.com,
and a long time
collector, Steven
KeyMan has more than 30
years of experience in
researching, and
cataloging information
on Baseball
Memorabilia.
Researching his own personal
collection, and helping others find
information on their
collectibles, the
website grew into the
largest online resource
for baseball
memorabilia |
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Ask
Steven: Direct your questions or feedback,
about Baseball Memorabilia to Steven KeyMan
Steve@keymancollectibles.com You can also Send
KeyMan pictures of your personal Memorabilia Display,
and get your own Free
Collectors Showcase Room featured on the website.. |
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As far back as the earliest days
of baseball, companies that
manufactured general leather goods
took advantage of the great demand
for baseball gloves. Producing
their own brand, it was a way of
generating extra income for their
business especially during tough
times brought on by the Great
Depression. Small Sporting stores,
hardware, drug, discount, and
department stores commonly had
privately branded baseball gloves
made for them, to help promote
their business.
Established in 1857, the
Morrison-Ricker Mfg company of
Grinnell, Iowa was most famous for
their driving gloves. They
manufactured all styles of gloves,
in addition to a line of baseball
gloves. Athletic goods such as
baseball gloves were not their
standard production item but were
only made in slack times at the
factory.
They had an interest in the sporting goods business and in 1923
Morrison-Ricker merged
with the Lannom Mfg. company from
Tennessee. In 1921 George Lannon
established the "Worth" trademark
for the sporting goods division of
Lannom Manufacturing company.
From
1908 until 1961 Sears, Roebuck &
Company sold a wide variety of
sporting goods, under the brand
name "J. C. Higgins." John Higgins
was the manager of the
headquarters' office bookkeepers,
and consented to Sears use of his
name for a new line of sporting
goods.
Since he did not have a middle initial, Sears added the "C." In 1908, the
Western Sporting Goods Company
(Wilson) began putting J.C. Higgins
on baseball gloves sold in Sears
catalogs. The J.C. Higgins brand
disappeared shortly after Sears
introduced the Ted Williams brand
of sporting and recreation goods in
1961.
Alex Taylor & Co. which at one time
was one of the major Sporting Goods
store located in New York, N.Y. was
established in 1897. The company
carried a large line of equipment
for a variety of sports that
included; basketball, lacrosse,
fencing, skiing, golf, tennis,
Football & baseball. It is not
known when the company went out of
business but like most of the
independent outlets, they most
likely succumbed to the onset of
the large chains.
The Diamond MFG, Co. "Diamond
Brand" is the in-store brand for
the Shapleigh Hardware Co. St.
Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1843,
by the early 1900's the Hardware
supplier carried a full range of
household goods, hardware, guns,
and knives with the private brand
"Diamond Edge" logo.
In 1901 Saunders Norvell of Simmons
Hardware, bought into the company
and used the name, Norvell-Shapleigh
Hardware. In 1918 the name was
changed to Shapleigh Hardware Co.
Their catalog included a line
of baseball gloves.
Founded in 1876 the McKinnon Dash
Co. was a manufacturer of
dashboards for horse drawn buggies
and carriages. The company also
manufactured other products such as
bicycles, canvas goods and welded
chain. In 1927, the McKinnon Dash
Co. purchased Bon Tober Sporting
Goods, a manufacture of baseball
gloves and balls. After 1930
McKinnon began producing a complete
line of leather sporting goods,
under the "McKinnon" brand name.
The "Reliance" brand baseball
gloves with the anchor logo were
made by the H. Niedecken Company,
which was founded in 1847 by Henry
Niedecken Sr. in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin.
It was a well respected bookbinder and blank-book manufacture that later
produced and sold, office supplies,
office furniture, stationary, and
among other items that included
toys, decorative china, "Holiday
Novelties" druggists' sundries, and
Base Ball Goods. Based on newspaper
ads, their baseball equipment,
bats, gloves, and mitts, are
loosely dated to about 1900-1909.
Winfield was a line of Juvenile,
toy and discount store quality
baseball gloves carried by the
"Five-and-Dimes" variety store
F. W. Woolworth Company. The
brand seems to have been taken from
the founder, Frank Winfield
Woolworth's middle name.
The baseball gloves were also part of "Junior Baseball Sets" that also
included a baseball & wooden
Winfield baseball bat. The Woolco
company, founded in 1962 by the
Woolworth Company, also carried the
Winfield Diamond-Pro line of
baseball gloves. Woolco closed in
1983, while the parent company
Woolworth, closed in 1997.
Incorporated in 1906 the Mortimer
Newman Company, a manufacture of
golf caps, conducted business as
the Moneco Company of New Haven.
Yale is the brand name for the Moneco Company, a manufacture of
Juvenile sporting goods, that
included, punching bags, medicine
balls, footballs, soccer balls,
boxing gloves, and baseball gloves.
By the 1940's the Moneco Co. was distributing their athletic equipment, to
drug, hardware and discount stores
throughout the country.
Lawlor's Sporting Goods was
established in Lincoln, Nebraska,
as the Lawlor Cycle Co., in 1896 by
Nicholas Lawlor. Among the
earliest product lines sold were
Harley Davidson motorcycles. The
company later expanded, operating
two stores in Lincoln, and two in
Omaha.
Following market trends Lawlor's
supplied customers with items such
as phonographs, records, hardware,
household appliances, and always
maintained a full line of sporting
goods. The Lawlor's brand baseball
gloves were manufactured by Hutch
Sporting goods. Known models
produced in the late '40's early
50's include; No. 100 DiMaggio, and
the No. 500 Connie Ryan.
Hiawatha was the in-store brand for
Gambles department store. The
Hiawatha brand name was a Gambles
registered trademark filed in 1949,
and was used for some of their
sporting good products such as
outboards, fishing rods, bicycles,
baseball bats, and gloves.
The catalog numbers for their
baseball gloves started with the
prefix 25- followed by a 4
digit number. The Denkert Sporting
Goods Co. made baseball gloves
for Gambles, using the Hiawatha
brand name.
Founded
in 1880, the
Ripon Knitting Works
company of Wisconsin manufactured
an extensive line of casual
footwear, slippers socks, hosiery,
gloves and mittens. In 1942 the
company won a contract to
manufacture mitten shels for the
U.S. Army and
Navy.
The company also started producing
baseball gloves for the Army
during the war. After the war in
1946 Ripon issued their first
catalog to the Sporting Goods
Trade. Models featured in their
catalogs issue through 1946, and
1948 include, The No. 10Z - Zipper
Heel,
No. 42 - ambidextrous baseball
glove, and
No. 40, raised padding
baseball/softball glove.
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MISCELLANEOUS & STORE BRAND
BASEBALL GLOVE INDEX |
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A guide to help identify and date
your miscellaneous and lesser known
branded baseball gloves. A catalog
of private in-store brands of
baseball gloves sold by; hardware,
drug, discount, and department
stores. Samples with links lead to
additional company information on
baseball glove manufactures,
retainers, and wholesale
distributors. |
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KEYMAN COLLECTIBLES
RELATED RESOURCES |
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KeyMan
Collectibles Collectors Corner
- Keep up with the latest collecting news,
announcements, and articles of interest on the
webs best resource for baseball memorabilia. |
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KeyMan Collectibles Baseball
Memorabilia Facebook Group -
Post Questions and comments relating to
Baseball Collectibles and Memorabilia. Interact
with other collectors or show off your
collection. |
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KeyMan Collectibles Forum
- A great option for those that "Don't do
facebook" Post Questions and
comments relating to Baseball Collectibles and
Memorabilia |
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