Vintage Photos Showing Outdoor Denim Advertising

Here's a few vintage snapshots showing outdoor denim advertising. Not sure of their exact dates. I'd date the photos showing the Blue Buckle ads from the 1920's because of similar illustrated ads I've seen.

Vintage Overalls Packaging

Here's a few pieces of packaging from vintage overalls. Typically these would be attached to the back pocket or on the back waistband. In today's world they are referred to as pocket flashers and joker tags.

I find it pretty interesting that the three Cater's tags and the two Ox Hide tags have dates written on them. Wonder if the guy who originally bought these in the 1930's was a collector? 

Just about all the vintage pieces I've seen are printed on some type of paper stock. The Ox Hide and Dee-Cee ones were printed on canvas.

In future posts about overalls packaging/marketing, I'll focus more on specific brands like Sweet-Orr and Finck's.

                        

1947 Takashimaya Department Store Postcards

Recently, I added the three following postcards to my collection. The three Japanese-issued postcards feature the Takashimaya Department Stores in 1947. The artwork was done by Shichiro Imatake (1907-2000). Imatake is considered one of the pioneers of graphic design in Japan.  

Takashimaya, which was founded in 1831 by Shinshichi Iida, is the oldest and largest department store chain in Japan with 20 locations. They also have stores in Taipei, Singapore and Paris. Their New York City flagship store closed in June 2010.

Note the spelling of the store name on the front of each card. There is no "h" in Takashimaya. I haven't been able to find any information about the origins of the spelling of the name. 

The fronts and the backs of the card all show the Takashimaya trademark.

A final, interesting note about these cards is their year of issue: 1947 was only two years after World War II ended. During the War a number of the stores were damaged or destroyed. At the War's end, only 21 stores survived, three of which were department stores. They were Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo. 

Indoor Baseball

On Thanksgiving Day in 1887 at the Farragut Boat Club on Chicago's South Side George W. Hancock yelled "let's play ball" after a member of the club threw a boxing glove and another member struck it with a broom handle.

Indoor baseball action from 1905

There are two versions of what the members of the club were doing at the time. In a November 26, 1900 article in the New York Times it says members of the Farragut Club were boxing. After the match one of the members playfully tossed a boxing glove toward a spectator. Another member struck the glove with a broom handle and the game was born. The other, more widely-documented version says that members of the club had gathered to hear results of college football games. After the scores were announced one club member tossed the glove and another member hit it with a broom handle.

1897 Chicago Indoor Baseball Team 

However the game really started, it quickly spread throughout the area. Colleges, high schools and clubs all had teams.

The equipment consisted of a soft 17-inch ball and stick-like bat. There were no gloves, and bases were 27 feet apart. As the game spread across the country, some variations occurred in the size of the ball and playing field.

An early1900's Reach Official Official Indoor Baseball 

In 1907 the game went outdoors and was called playground ball, kitten-ball, mushball or diamond ball, depending on the locale. It later became known as softball. By 1910 the indoor game was at a decline because of the growth of basketball. By the 1920s the sports was all but dead. 

In 1939 the National Professional Indoor Baseball League was formed. The league's president was Hall of Famer Tris Speaker. Teams were set up in New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Cincinnati and St. Louis. Each club would play a 102-game schedule from November to March, and play a championship between the division winners. Several former major leaguers were picked to manage these clubs: Bill Wambsganss (Cleveland), Harry Davis (Philadelphia), Bubbles Hargrove (Cincinnati), Moose McCormick (New York), and Gabby Street (St. Louis). The league was short-lived and it shut down operations after only one month due to lack of fan support.

Al Baschang, who played in the Queens City Indoor League, is the only know indoor player to have played in the majors. In 1912 he played with the Detroit Tigers and in 1918 he played for the Brooklyn Robins. He later went on to manage the Evansville Evans of the Three-I League in 1921 and the Saginaw Aces of the Michigan-Ontario League in 1924.

Below is a look at a few of the different cover styles for the Spalding Indoor Baseball Guides.

Check out some of the uniforms and sweaters these guys wore. I especially like the Spalding jersey.

All of the team/player photos and the guides are from The Library of Congress.

It's pretty amazing to see how the indoor game went on to become one of the most popular participant sports in the United States.