During the
early days of baseball and into the
mid 20th century most woodworking
companies took advantage of the
great demand for baseball bats. It
was a way of generating extra
income for the business especially
during tough times brought on by
the Great Depression. Small towns
depended on mail order, local
general or hardware stores for
their sporting good needs. Some had privately branded labels made
by the local wood turners or major
sporting goods manufactures,
resulting in 100's of privately
branded labels.
Established in 1893, the Pontiac Buggy Company manufactured horse drawn
carriages in Pontiac, Michigan.
With the invent of the motor car
the company then established the
Oakland Motor Car Corp. and turned
it's attention to manufacturing
automobiles. The Pontiac became its
own General Motors division in the
1930's. Competing in the market
with Spalding, Reach, and a young Hillerich & Bradsby company, the
factory in Pontiac also turn out
baseball bats. In 1912 J.F Hillerich & Sons Company,
Louisville Slugger baseball bat
company acquired the plant of the
Pontiac Turning Company to increase
production of their brand of
baseball bats but also continued to
manufacture the Pontiac brand for a
number of years.
Tool Handle manufacturers also got into the business of turning out
baseball bats. One of the earliest
companies to do so was the
Zimmerman Manufacturing Company.
Located in Owosso, Michigan, in the
mid 1890's they produced axe
handles, neck yokes, Billy clubs,
and baseball bats.
Established in 1885, the
Sheldon
Handle Co., specializing in axe,
pick, and sledge handles expanded
there saw mil in 1934, to meet an
order place by the Spalding
Sporting Goods company for 125,000
baseball bat blanks (billets).
Sheldon turned out baseball bats in Kinzua, Pennsylvania, until 1960 when
against the wishes of the Seneca
Nation of Indians, the government
bought out the town to make room
for the Kinzua Dam. The remains of
Seneca ancestors were bulldozed to
make way for the dam, which became
operational in 1966. 10,000 acres
of Seneca ancestral homeland were
flooded, forcing the relocation of
its residents including 600 Seneca
Indians. Johnny cash wrote and
performed a song about the
incident. In 1963 the Sheldon
Handle company relocated to
Virginia.
Most small towns across the country would have had too low of a
population to support a sporting
goods store. Local athletes would
have to rely on a mail order
company, hardware or general stores
to purchase their sporting goods.
The A.F. Shapleigh Hardware Company
was founded in 1843, and by the
early 1900's the Hardware supplier
carried a full range of household
goods, hardware, guns, knives and
baseball bats with the private
brand "
Diamond
MFG. Co."
Belknap Hardware
was established in 1840, produced
iron products, such as horseshoes,
nails, spikes and other forged
items in a small shop. Starting in
1890 their catalog included a line
of sporting goods that included
baseball Bats, which
were manufactured by Hillerich &
Bradsby Co. Their private Trademark Blue Grass brand
of general goods was used on many items
including the line of
baseball bats they carried.
Mail Order companies such as Montgomery ward and Sears sold privately
branded baseball bats, that were
manufactured by Hillerich & Bradsby.
Montgomery Ward sold the privately
branded line of
Marathon baseball
bats. Sears, JC Higgins. John
Higgins the manager of the Sears
headquarters' office bookkeepers,
consented to Sears the use of his
name
for a new line of sporting
goods. Since he did not have a
middle initial, Sears added the
"C." The JC Higgins brand was used
by Sears until 1961, when sears
introduced the Ted Williams brand
of sporting goods.
Some large sporting Good stores
also had bats made for them with
their own unique branding.
Alex
Taylor & Co. which at one time was
one of the major Sporting Goods
store located in New York, N.Y. was
established in 1897. The company
went on to become a major
manufacture of hockey
equipment & Jersey's used by the
NHL. Their catalog featured both
Louisville Slugger and the Alex
Taylor brand of baseball bats. One
center brand featured an
interesting instruction "THIS SIDE
UP" stamping within the label.
Major League ballplayers such as Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner and Joe DiMaggio
ventured into the business of
peddling privately branded sporting
goods & baseball bats. Ty Cobb
souvenir Ball Bats were sold at
ball parks across the nation. The
Honus Wagner Co. sold Sporting
Goods in downtown Pittsburgh, and
Joe DiMaggio lent his name to
Hillcrest Sporting Goods Inc.
Based in St.
Louis Missouri
Stan-The-Man Inc.
was a company that Stan Musial was
involved with after his playing
career. The company sold Stan
Musial memorabilia that included
"Stan the Man Inc." branded
Baseball Bats. A line of player
endorsed bats were sold through
retail stores and a few bats were
used by Stan Musial himself at the
Major League level before his
retirement in 1963. In 1966
Stan-The-Man "Little Cardinal"
baseball bats were given away by
the St. Louis Cardinals for Bat
Day.
There are hundreds of
privately branded baseball bats
labeled by a large variety of
businesses ranging from companies
that sell Firearms such as
Winchester, Folsom and Schmelzer
Arms, to companies that sold
children's shoes, with the Star
Brand Shoes-Poll Parrot brand
baseball bats. These bats will be
cataloged in the
Vintage Baseball
Bat Dating Guide on the website, in
Misc. & Private branded baseball
Bats. If you have a bat that you
can't identify, and hasn't been
added to the guide, send some
pictures to
Steve@keymancollectibles.com.
