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August 2, 1923. Washington, D.C. "Max Schwartz, winner of pie eating contest, Jefferson school." View full size. National Photo Company glass negative.
Was this kid related to Pie Traynor?
With modern trap gloves the ball is supposed to be caught in the webbing between the thumb and index finger. The glove is hinged and is designed to snap shut when the ball hits the webbing.
The type of glove in the picture was used before the trap glove became popular. The ball was supposed to be caught in the pocket - a big dent in the palm of the glove. These gloves had no hinge and very little webbing so they didn't snap shut. Players were taught to catch fly balls with two hands, using the bare hand to keep the ball from popping out of the glove.
The change from old-style gloves to trap gloves didn't happen all at once. I think it started in the forties and continued through the seventies. Catchers were the last players to adopt hinged gloves (actually, mitts in their case) - Johnny Bench pioneered the hinged catcher's mitt in the major leagues.
"Later that day, Schwartz's consecutive-games-played streak ended at 72, due to a tummyache."
My dad had a glove very much like that when he was a boy, and gave it to us when we were kids. It was easier catching the ball bare-handed! Maybe it took more getting used to, but a thick handful of flat padded leather, the ball would just go anywhere it wanted. Maybe we were dips. But I couldn't catch a thing with that flat glove!
We had two or three of that kind of glove when I was a child in the sixties. (Heck, Dad probably still has them.) I remember trying to play catch using one - it was pitiful! Lumpy and hard to handle. Thankfully, my dad got me a new glove for Little League.
You know, i might be related to this guy. I should do some asking around with my dad.
- E. Schwartz
Is the glove he's holding, his prize for winning the contest? What kind of glove is that anyway?
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