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WILSON BASEBALL BAT DATING GUIDE |
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The Thomas
E. Wilson Company, Wilson Sporting Goods Co., has
used different center brands in their history. The Logo
samples pictured below are dated to the years they
appear in the Wilson Sporting Goods catalogs. By matching the samples with the logo on your
bat you could approximately date to that era. Although
the exact years each label was used may be off by a
year or two,, they do appear in chronological
order. Information will be
added as it becomes available. |
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Sample |
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Manufacturing Period
Description |
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| 1916-1918 Bat
Manufacturing Period |
| Ashland Mfg Co.
enabled Thos. E. Wilson to enter the sporting
goods business. The center brand features an interlocking
"A-M-Co." logo encircled with "ASHLAND" at the
top, and "QUALITY LINE," at the bottom. |
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| 1919-1928 Bat
Manufacturing Period |
| This
is the first
Wilson center brand featured on bats sold in
the 1919
catalog. Enclosed and centered in a double oval
border is the Wilson Trade Mark "W" overlapped
by a rectangle
that reads "Thos.
E. Wilson & Co." with the word CHICAGO"
wedged at the the bottom of the "W" and U.S.A.
below. |
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| 1922 - 1931 Bat
Manufacturing Period |
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Mostly used on
indoor & Fungo bats. this center brand also
appears on a line of bats with initials thought
to be attributed professional ballplayers. The center brand logo is a simple
script
company name
"Thos.
E. Wilson & Co,"
with the word "GUARANTEED"
below. |
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| 1929-1940 Bat
Manufacturing Period |
| This center brand
features the Trade Mark "Wilson" script logo at
the top with "FAMOUS PLAYER MODEL" below. To
the right is the model number, and "REG.
U.S.PAT.OFF." at the bottom. |
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| 1932-1937 Bat
Manufacturing Period |
| After the company name
was changed to Wilson Sporting Goods, in
1931,this center brand first appears in the
1932 Wilson catalog. It Simply states with the
Trade mark Wilson script logo, "It's a Wilson"
with the model No. below. |
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| 1937-1940 Bat
Manufacturing Period |
| The "It's a Wilson"
center brand is rearranged in 1937. It replaces
the previous logo By placing "It's a" above the
Trademark Wilson Script logo, with the model
No. below. The words "MADE IN U.SA," is added
below the model number. |
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| 1941-1951 Bat
Manufacturing Period |
| This newly designed
Center Brand features the "Wilson" Trademark
Script log centered between a wedge at the top
that features the model number, and a wedge
below that reads "MADE IN U.S.A." |
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| 1949-1960 Bat
Manufacturing Period |
| This center
brand is the same as the previous years
but in 1949 Wilson starts to use a model number
that begins with the Prefix "A" followed by a 4
digit number. |
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| 1961-1970's Bat
Manufacturing Period |
| The "Wilson" Trademark
script logo is now centered inside a double
bordered circle with the model number above,
and "Made, In, U.S.A." at the botom. |
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| 1965-1970's Bat
Manufacturing Period |
Sometime during the
mid 1960's the
Registered trademark 
is placed below the
lowercase "e" in "FLAMEfused" and in some
years it appears above the uppercase "E" in "FLAMEfused"
It is not clear when the
was first used but the
but the prvious center band is found into the
1970's. |
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1980's- Bat
Manufacturing Period |
| This newly designed
Center Brand features the "Wilson"
script logo followed by the
Registered trademark
The Model Number is
placed below left, and "MADE IN U.S.A." on the
right. There are other variations of this logo
used in the years to come and this page will be
updated when the catalog information becomes
available. |
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| Wilson Sporting Goods History |
Formed in 1913 as the Ashland
Manufacturing Co., the firm was a subsidiary of the
long-tenured Chicago meatpacking giant known as Schwartzchild
and Sulzberger (later changed to "Sulzberger & Son's.) The
“Ashland” name simply came from the first factory location at
4100 S. Ashland Ave. The subsidiary was originally established
to find unique ways of using slaughterhouse byproducts of the
nearby meat-packing firm. It started out in 1914, making tennis
racket strings, violin strings, and surgical sutures, but soon
expanded into baseball shoes and tennis racquets.
Sulzberger and Sons was abruptly forced into a receivership to avoid
bankruptcy, and taken over by a New York banking conglomerate
in 1914. When it seemed that the the subsidiary, Ashland MFG
was to fold, the banking group in New York, put Thomas E.
Wilson in charge as president. The company name was changed to
Wilson & Co., in 1916.
Wilson didn't see much potential in the Ashland, and tried to sell it to
A.G. Spalding. Spalding's offer was too low, and Wilson decided
to reinvent the sporting goods department. Wilson's immediate
plan was to take sporting goods to the next level. "The biggest
thing of its kind in the world." Wilson & company began the
manufacturing of baseball Gloves in 1918, as Thos. E. Wilson &
Co. In 1925, the company was renamed "Wilson-Western Sporting
Goods" and then in 1931, Wilson Sporting Goods Co.
The Ashland MFG Co. enabled Thomas E. Wilson to enter the sporting goods
business. around 1918 Wilson acquire smaller businesses with
the goal of improving and expanding Wilson & Co’s sporting
goods operations. This included snapping up the Sells MFG Co.
of Canton, Ohio, makers of leather baseball gloves and balls.
Ashland operated a retail store in 1916-1917 selling a "Quality
Line" of athletic goods. In 1919 Wilson Sporting Goods issued
their first catalog. |
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