I had no interest in baseball, other than playing first base as a child, but after purchasing a baseball glove endorsed by Hal Trosky I found a lot of interesting information and wanted to share. I was atonished to find that gloves and sports memoribilia have a vocabulary of there own to describe and date them.
Hal can be described as a hefty left-handed slugger, who was also a good contact hitter and an adequate, if not slick, fielder. In 1934, his rookie year with Cleveland, Big Hal batted .330, hit 35 homers and drove in 142 runs. Trosky died at age 66 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1979. He played 11 years in the majors, from 1933 through 1941 with the Cleveland Indians, and then in 1944 and 1946 with the Chicago White Sox. He had announced his retirement in 1941 because of migraine headaches, but returned for 135 games in 1944 and 88 games in 1946 with the White Sox.
Grade and Description (KeyMan Collectibles)
Fair / Poor - Gloves in this condition have been used, and abused considerably. Irreparable rips tears, and holes. Dry rot, water damage, and hardening of the leather. These Gloves are not displayable, and have no collectible value. The glove can not be restored, but may be good for parts.
Good - A gloves that may have been used considerably. Most of the stamping is gone or barely visible. Leather is much chaffed, thinned in spots, no form left. The glove may still be serviceable, but only collectible if an extremely rare model usually used filler until a better similar type is available.
Very Good - Very used but most of the stamping is visible. No form but intact. Cloth manufacturer label torn or worn out. Piping frayed, and worn.
Excellent - Well used but cared for. Stamping is visible. Dark with age but nice patina. Cloth label intact. Minor piping wear, some form left.
Excellent / Mint - Much stronger than an excellent glove but not near mint. It is an excellent glove with stronger characteristics of a higher grade glove such as strong bright stamping, perfect cloth label, no oil stains, and perfect insides. Etc.
Near Mint - A glove that has seen almost no use. Still stiff in form, all stamping strong. Perfect insides perfect cloth patch, has caught but a few balls. Some otherwise mint gloves may not have been used but have significant enough blemishes such as scratches from some handling or poor storage to drop into this grade category.
Mint - New never played with regardless of age. A mint glove may show some shelf wear due to age Such as minute piping wear, oxidation around brass grommets. Stiff due to no use, slight fading of original color, all of that must be minute, and from storage. Not from use. In its original form when bought.
Vintage Baseball Glove Dating Guide (KeyMan Collectibles)
Pre 1900s - Gloves had no web and are referred to as "workman" style gloves. Early fingerless gloves were used for better grip. Gloves were hand made or altered from existing gloves before they were manufactured for baseball.
1900 - 1915 - Gloves had sewn in webs known as "full webs" These webs were sewn directly to the thumb and forefinger and extended to where the thumb and forefinger meet by 1910 1 inch webs start appearing.
1910's - 1920's - Most gloves have a sewn in one inch web. Similar to the previous web except that the web was one to one and a half inches wide. Player endorsements now can be used to help date some gloves.
1920's - 1930's - A vertical tunnel loop web was used. Either two or four elongated loops were sewn in directly to the thumb and forefinger through which passed a simple rawhide lace. The "Bill Doak Era" of baseball Gloves begins.
1930's - 1940s - the more modern webs began to be used. First the single tunnel, then the double tunnel, then by the early 1940's triple tunnel and H webs began to be used. These were all separate webs that were laced to the glove. The single tunnel was about a one inch wide web, the double tunnel utilized two of these simple webs.
1940's - 1950 - the full modern webs began to be used. Until the late 1940's fielders gloves had no lacing between the fingers. These gloves are referred to as "Spit finger" Gloves. The transition of the split finger to the laced glove is more evident.
1950 - 1960 - Most gloves have lacing between the fingers although you will find an occasional split finger. The full web triple tunnel style dominates this era.
1960 - 1970 - The 1950s full web tunnel style still shows up, and with more lacing "weaved" in and out of the web showing on the outside.
1970 - 1980 - Although a 12" size rule was made in the 1950s outfielder Gloves begin to be made as long as 13 - 14".
So with all this in mind, here is the description of the glove I found. This is a workman’s style full webbed leather basemen’s glove from around the 1930’s. It has very soft burgundy colored leather that is slightly stained around the thumb area. The seams are intact with loop design sewing and the web is also connected with lacing. The wrist strap is intact with lacing and I do not see any signs of a sewn on label. The inside is smooth with no tears. The palm side of the glove is endorsed with “Hal Trosky”, “Chrome Max”, and then a circle emblem which is not real clear, other then “KHJ” and “SEAMLESS”. The glove measures 9 inches by 9 inches and is in very good condition.
To see more about this amazing glove from the past or to view other vintage toys or sports items, you can visit my online store at:
http://www.tias.com/stores/midwestsalecourt/
