Rawlings sporting goods has been tops with me for a long time. As a schoolboy playing baseball in a vacant lot, Chancellor Avenue playground or in Unterman Field in Newark New Jersey I knew I had the best of the best if I had Rawlings to use. Playing baseball and having Rawlings sporting goods went hand and hand with me. If I had Rawlings on my left hand I had the best sporting goods that I could use. I knew that I would have an advantage because of my equipment. I felt great. The world was right for me.
Bill Doak, a pitcher for the St Louis Cardinals had something to say about putting Rawlings on the baseball map. He created a glove that hoisted Rawlings to the top of sporting goods world. I will get back to Bill in a second.
More of my Rawlings story.
If I did not have Rawlings sporting goods to use in a game I somehow felt slighted or I was at a disadvantage. Rawlings gave me confidence when I was a youngster. If I forgot my glove and I had to use someone else's glove and it was not Rawlings, I would look for someone to trade gloves with. I looked for the red Rawlings image they had on their sporting goods. I would go on a lookout to find the red patch of perfection for a Rawlings sporting goods glove.
Back to the Rawlings story
The Rawlings Company was established in 1887 by George and Alfred Rawlings. They opened a sporting goods store in St Louis, Missouri. Rawlings sporting goods hit it big when Bill Doak approached them in 1920. He suggested to Rawlings that a web should be laced between the first finger and thumb. He said it would create a natural pocket. The Bill Doak glove soon replaced all other baseball gloves and is the pattern manufacturing to this day. His most lasting contribution to the sport was for an improved baseball glove. Not his pitching.
Funny how these things happen. I would have thought that some engineer or glove developer would have created the glove. Not a pitcher for the St Louis Cardinals. Who would have thought that Rawlings sporting goods found the spotlight by a baseball player? I guess you can never sell these baseball players short anymore. Now that I think about it. It’s not so far fetched. Who would have developed a glove, a bowler?
Rawlings makes other fine sporting goods besides gloves. Fusion bats, pants and balls are part of the Rawlings product line. There sporting goods are still top of the line to this day. Even Albert Pujols uses Rawlings.
When I watch a game and see one of the Major Leaguers wearing some Rawlings sporting good, I always think how smart he is.
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