The Okie Legacy: 1875 - Baseball Glove Come To Baseball

Soaring eagle logo. Okie Legacy Banner. Click here for homepage.

Moderated by NW Okie!

Volume 12 , Issue 16

2010

Weekly eZine: (364 subscribers)
Subscribe | Unsubscribe
Using Desktop...

Sections
Alva Mystery
Opera House Mystery

Albums...
1920 Alva PowWow
1917 Ranger
1926 Ranger
1937 Ranger
Castle On the Hill

Stories Containing...

Blogs / WebCams / Photos
NW Okie's FB
OkieJournal FB
OkieLegacy Blog
Ancestry (paristimes)
NW Okie Instagram
Flickr Gallery
1960 Politcal Legacy
1933 WIRangeManuel
Volume 12
1999  Vol 1
2000  Vol 2
2001  Vol 3
2002  Vol 4
2003  Vol 5
2004  Vol 6
2005  Vol 7
2006  Vol 8
2007  Vol 9
2008  Vol 10
2009  Vol 11
2010  Vol 12
2011  Vol 13
2012  Vol 14
2013  Vol 15
2014  Vol 16
2015  Vol 17
2016  Vol 18
2017  Vol 19
2018  Vol 20
2021  Vol 21
Issues 16
Iss 1  1-4 
Iss 2  1-11 
Iss 3  1-18 
Iss 4  1-25 
Iss 5  2-1 
Iss 6  2-8 
Iss 7  2-15 
Iss 8  2-22 
Iss 9  3-2 
Iss 10  3-8 
Iss 11  3-15 
Iss 12  3-22 
Iss 13  3-29 
Iss 14  4-5 
Iss 15  4-12 
Iss 16  4-20 
Iss 17  4-25 
Iss 18  5-3 
Iss 19  5-10 
Iss 20  5-17 
Iss 21  5-24 
Iss 22  5-31 
Iss 23  6-8 
Iss 24  6-14 
Iss 25  6-21 
Iss 26  6-28 
Iss 27  7-5 
Iss 28  7-12 
Iss 29  7-19 
Iss 30  7-26 
Iss 31  8-2 
Iss 32  8-9 
Iss 33  8-16 
Iss 34  8-23 
Iss 35  8-30 
Iss 36  9-6 
Iss 37  9-13 
Iss 38  9-21 
Iss 39  9-27 
Iss 40  10-4 
Iss 41  10-12 
Iss 42  10-18 
Iss 43  10-25 
Iss 44  11-1 
Iss 45  11-8 
Iss 46  11-15 
Iss 47  11-22 
Iss 48  11-29 
Iss 49  12-6 
Iss 50  12-13 
Iss 51  12-20 
Iss 52  12-28 
Other Resources
NWOkie JukeBox

1875 - Baseball Glove Come To Baseball

Did you know that baseball developed before the Civil War, but did not achieve professional status until the 1870s?

As for the very first professional team in 1869, that would be the Cincinnati Red Stockings, but their life as some say, "Their life was brief and the team went bankrupt within a year of its founding."

It was 1871 that the National Association of Professional Basebal Players was formed, at its peak and consisted of 13 teams. Those too were plagued by financial difficulties and were abandoned in 1875.

It was 1876 that the formation of the National League of Professional Baseball Players (shortened to National League) saw its formation. The rival American League was founded in 1884 and an era of modern professional baseball had begun.

It was during these early days of baseball that players were expected to take the field without benefit of protective equipment such as a baseball glove or catcher's mask. They go on to state, "The pain of sport was to be endured without complaint. Any effort to mollify the rigors of the game was looked upon as a sissified attempt to demean the sport."

Do you know who was on a contemporary baseball care in 1887, as a 1st Base, Pittsburgh? If you guessed Sam Barkley, you guessed correctly.

In 1911, Spalding wrote of his experiences in early baseball and his first baseball glove, ""The first glove I ever saw on the hand of a ball player in a game was worn by Charles C. Waite, in Boston, in 1875. He had come from New Haven and was playing at first base. The glove worn by him was of flesh color, with a large, round opening in the back. Now, I had for a good while felt the need of some sort of hand protection for myself. In those days clubs did not carry an extra carload of pitchers, as now. For several years I had pitched in every game played by the Boston team, and had developed severe bruises on the inside of my left hand. When it is recalled that every ball pitched had to be returned, and that every swift one coming my way, from infielders, outfielders or hot from the bat, must be caught or stopped, some idea may be gained of the punishment received.

"Therefore, I asked Waite about his glove. He confessed that he was a bit ashamed to wear it, but had it on to save his hand. He also admitted that he had chosen a color as inconspicuous as possible, because he didn't care to attract attention. He added that the opening on the back was for purpose of ventilation.

"Meanwhile my own hand continued to take its medicine with utmost regularity, occasionally being bored with a warm twister that hurt excruciatingly. Still, it was not until 1877 that I overcame my scruples against joining the 'kid-glove aristocracy' by donning a glove. When I did at last decide to do so, I did not select a flesh-colored glove, but got a black one, and cut out as much of the back as possible to let the air in.

"Happily, in my case, the presence of a glove did not call out the ridicule that had greeted Waite. I had been playing so long and had become so well known that the innovation seemed rather to evoke sympathy than hilarity. I found that the glove, thin as it was, helped considerably, and inserted one pad after another until a good deal of relief was afforded. If anyone wore a padded glove before this date I do not know it. The 'pillow mitt' was a later innovation."

My Grandpa William J. "Bill" McGill began his baseball days in the earlier 1900s in Oklahoma and Kansas -- which took him down to Austin, Texas as a fast, southpaw pitcher for the Southwest Texas league with the Austin Senators and later a season with the St. Louis Browns and the Major leagues before coming back to the brand new state of Oklahoma and pitching for the Guthrie baseball team in 1909.
  |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe


© . Linda Mcgill Wagner - began © 1999 Contact Me