Vintage Victorian Spalding National League Baseball Advertisement

by Peter Ogden

Title

Vintage Victorian Spalding National League Baseball Advertisement

Artist

Peter Ogden

Medium

Painting - Chromolithograph

Description

This is a restored copy of an 1891 chromolithograph advertisement for the famous historic early antique Official Spalding League Baseball only 5 cents!
Spalding is an American sports equipment manufacturing company founded by Albert Spalding in Chicago, in 1876, although is now headquartered in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Spalding currently focuses on basketball, mainly producing balls but also commercializing hoops, rims, nets and ball pump needles.
In the early, mid-1800s days of baseball, there was a great variety in the size, shape, weight, and manufacturing of baseballs. Early baseballs were made from a rubber core from old, melted shoes, wrapped in yarn and leather. Fish eyes were also used as cores in some places. Pitchers usually made their own balls, which were used throughout the game, softening and coming unraveled as the game went on. One of the more popular earlier ball designs was the "lemon peel ball," named after its distinct four lines of stitching design. Lemon peel balls were darker, smaller, and weighed less than other baseballs, prompting them to travel further and bounce higher, causing very high-scoring games.[3]
In the mid-1850s, teams in and around New York met in an attempt to standardize the baseball. They decided to regulate the weight of baseballs at 51⁄2–6 oz, and with a circumference of 8–11 inches. There were still many variations of baseballs since they were completely handmade. Balls with more rubber and a tighter winding went further and faster (known as "live balls"), and balls with less rubber and a looser winding (known as "dead balls") did not travel as far or fast. This is generally true for all baseballs. Teams often used this knowledge to their advantage, as players from the team usually manufactured their own baseballs to use in games.
The Fine Art America logo does not appear on the final product.

Uploaded

October 20th, 2018

Colors

Embed

Share

Tags