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MANUFACTURER
- H. Rademaker &
Sons
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H. Rademaker & Sons, was a wholesale
manufacturer of base ball bats, croquet
sets, Indian clubs and all kinds of
turned goods. The company, with a plant
located at 39-49 Water Street, Grand
Rapids Michigan became the largest
manufacturer of baseball bats in the
world by 1896. It was reported that the
company turned out 200,000 baseball
bats in 1887 alone. A year before J. F. Hillerich & Son entered the baseball
bat market in 1888.
The crude reverse branding on this bat suggests that it was made earlier
than the 1885 ring bats shown in the
ads below. Reverse branding was common
with bat manufactures such as; Reach or
J. F. Hillerich & Son, on bats made in
the 1880s-1890s. Fewer examples are
found in the early 1900s. Two of the
1885 ads below show a more refined,
diamond shaped center brand.
In 1896 H. Rademaker & Sons, sold out under chattel mortgage sale, and
filed trust deeds to secured creditors.
There is no evidence that the company
made baseball bats with the H.
Rademaker & Sons label after 1896 but,
the company is listed in the 1921
Sporting goods Trade Directory as a bat
manufacturer. This opens the
possibility that H. Rademaker & Sons,
continued to produce baseball bats for
another company like J. F. Hillerich &
Son, in
order to relieve their financial
troubles. H. Rademaker & Sons did
continued to manufacture croquet sets
into the 1960s.
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H. Rademaker & Sons Baseball Bat |
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KEYMAN COLLECTIBLES
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