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MANUFACTURER
- Ashland MFG Co.
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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.
This interlocking A-M-Co. "Ashland Quality Line," No. 100AB decal bat is the only known example of
an Ashland Mfg. Co. baseball bat to
exist today.
Although there is only a small
percentage of the decal left, the
remaining colors do resemble the Red &
white decal on the Thomas E. Wilson
W520, "Professional" bat, on the 1919
catalog.
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Ashland MFG Co. Baseball Bat |
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Ashland No. 100AB
Decal Bat |
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| 1916 Ashland Mfg Co. Ad |
1917 Newspaper Ad |
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KEYMAN COLLECTIBLES
RELATED RESOURCES |
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