| This
is a vintage 19th century extremely
rare fingerless style baseball glove c.1880-90. The back
of the Glove features a Wooden
button with metal attachment on the back strap. There have
been only a few examples of this rare glove style to be
offered publicly as the original fragility, surviving
supply, and enormous demand have made this the most
desired style in the glove collecting arena.
This
Glove has no manufacturer markings. Early baseball
gloves were made by improvising with existing Work
gloves or made by a local saddle maker. This is why the
first baseball gloves made resemble work gloves. Reach Sporting
goods became one of the first manufacturers of baseball
Gloves in the 1880s. A reproduction of the Reach glove
is pictured below right. Many early baseball gloves were
simple leather gloves with the fingertips cut off,
supposedly to allow for the same control of a bare hand,
but with extra padding. When Gloves were first being
used in the late 1870s it was considered “unmanly”
for players to seek protection for one’s hands and the
use of a glove was considered a sign of weakness.1875
Charles Waite of the St. Louis Brown Stockings became
the first fielder to wear a fingerless glove.
Unfortunately for him, he was the subject of intense
ridicule by not only the opposing players and fans, but
by his own teammates as well.
I have
included a picture of another sample of a fingerless
Baseball glove below on the left which is very similar
to the Reach reproduction.
Vintage
baseball Glove dating Guide
click
here
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