(aka Tools Of Ignorance)
We used no mattress on our hands, No cage upon our face;
We stood right up and caught the ball, With courage and with grace.
George Ellard 1869 Red Stockings
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Catching has never appeared to be an easy or cushy job. Even with protective accessories, the position seems to lead the league in injuries yearly. That's why baseball's version of building a better mousetrap starts with the man behind the plate. Safety and productivity have been the goals of a variety of catching inventions throughout the history of the game. Harvard baseball captain Fred Thayer adapted a fencer's mask to be used by catchers in 1877. A year later, he filed a patent on the idea. Not until the 1890's did major leaguers accept the screened-in luxury. George Wright, brother of Red Stockings founder Harry Wright, preceded the mask with a "mouth protector." His invention was a fifty-cent rubber mouth guard. Similar to the mouthpiece a boxer wears, his invention surely cut down on the talkativeness of catchers. |
A page from the Victor Sporting Goods Company shows that one of baseball's first concerns of the 20th C. was to develop practical catching equipment. |
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Women got into the act of making catching a safer profession. Legend has it that the wife of Detroit Tigers catcher Charles Bennett devised a chest pad to protect her hubby during games. He wore the creation outside his jersey in 1886. While some accounts say that catchers experimented with chest protectors earlier in the decade, these image-conscious receivers tried hiding the devices beneath their uniforms to avoid razzing. Mitts were a taken-for-granted part of catching. Historians quibble over whether Harry Decker or Joe Gunson first used the padded catcher's mitt in the 1880's. Supposedly, Kansas City Cowboy's Gunson dreamed up the mitt, but he was too busy catching in Al Spalding's world baseball tour to take advantage of the idea. So, Decker filed a patent on the now-familiar mitt design in 1889. |
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The first pro team, the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, featured catcher Doug Allison and his buckskin mitt custom-made by a saddle maker. Draper and Maynard was the first company to market a glove specifically for catchers, advertising as early as 1887. (At right) The "Joe Gunson" mitt introduced in 1889 |
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It was not until 1895 that stipulations concerning use of gloves were included in the rules: those limited the size of gloves to ten ounces and fourteen inches circumference for all players except catchers and first basemen, who were permitted to use any size glove. The early gloves, lacking webbing and lacing, merely provided protection for the hands. Players in the 19th Century often wore gloves on both hands. For the throwing hand, they would simply snip the glove at the fingers for dexterity. Three noted catching inventions have been traced to the Dodgers: the Target Mitt, the Hinged Shin Guard, and the Throat Guard. |
Typical catching equipment, circa 1942. |
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