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Organized
in Atlanta, Georgia, by Palmer Walthour
and L.J. Hood in 1907, the Walthour &
Hood Co. were wholesale and retail
dealers In bicycles and sporting goods.
The firm was incorporated in 1914.
After the war, the company grew to 40
employees and grossed $1,100,000 in
1919, all from the wholesale of
bicycles, parts and accessories. In
1922 the firm decided to branch out,
and added a line of sporting goods. It
took over the building at 52-56 Forsyth
St., in 1927 with a new retail store
established on the first floor.
Walthour & Hood moved to a five-story building at North Pryor St. in 1939.
The company further branched out by
adding a complete line of toys, games,
model planes and hobby shop supplies. Palmer's
brother, famed bicycle
racer Bobby Walthour became the head of
the bicycle department. Walco was the Walthour
& Hood Company name brand of sporting
goods which included
bicycles, footballs, basketballs, and
baseball equipment.
Due to the circle "Walco-Atlanta, Service First, Quality Always" company brand identifier stamp on the
gloves wearing out, there are only
four known baseball glove models to
surfaced in the hobby: Charlie Berry
CMA3 catchers mitt; Jeff Cross
signature model No. G75; Pinky Higgins
Signature model G110, and a G45
Fielders glove. The gloves feature a
double
tunnel web, or a triple tunnel. A tunnel web is a strip of
leather about one inch wide in which a
lace is passed through both top and
bottom, and connected between the thumb
& forefinger. These webs were common to
the 1930s and 1940s.
Advertised
baseball glove models include: No. WG102
boys' fielder's glove; WBM5 boys'
baseman's mitt; and WM218 Boys'
catchers mitt; all listed in a 1935
newspaper ad.
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