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MANUFACTURING PERIOD
Circa 1894-1930's
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MANUFACTURER
Victor Sporting Goods
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The
Overman Wheel Company was an early
bicycle manufacturing company in
Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts from 1882
to 1900. Their flagship product was the
Victor Bicycle. Overman had contracted
with the Spalding sports equipment
company as their sole bicycle
distributor, but after a fallout, the
two companies became competitors.
Overman entered the sporting goods
market in 1894. The company would go on
to manufacture a full line of sporting
goods under the Victor trademark, which
included Baseballs, baseball gloves and
bats. In 1897, the Overman Wheel
Company, would be forced into
bankruptcy before selling the business
to Stevens Arms & Tool Co. of Chicopee
Falls, MA in 1900.
Founded in 1871 by Baseball Hall of
Famer George Wright and Boston
businessman Henry Ditson, the Wright &
Ditson company
specialized in tennis rackets, and golf
clubs. Sometime around the turn of the
19th century, they added baseball
equipment. By the early 1900's, A.G.
Spalding & Brothers controlled 99.7% of
the company's shares. In 1910,
Wright & Ditson announced the formation of a
partnership with Victor Sporting Goods
of Springfield, Massachusetts.
The Victor's baseball factory would produce their specialties, namely
baseballs, bats, mitts, and gloves, for
Wright & Ditson, and the goods would
thereafter bear the Wright & Ditson
logo. In 1918, the Victor Sporting
Goods Company consolidated with the
Wright & Ditson Company. All sporting
goods produced from their facilities
thereafter were stamped with a new
Victor, Wright & Ditson logo. In 1928,
Spalding consolidated Reach and the
Wright & Ditson-Victor Co. into A.J.
Reach, Wright & Ditson, Inc.
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Victor Sporting Goods
Co. Baseball Bats |
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"The Victor" 1915-1917 |
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Wright & Ditson Victor Baseball
Bat |
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| 1896 Victor Baseball Guide Catalig |
1924 Wright & Ditson Victor Catalog |
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KEYMAN COLLECTIBLES
RELATED RESOURCES |
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