Inspiration:

Wow Rob... Amazing results on that one. Might be even whiter than it was originally. I'd feel more confident if those graphics were red, but will keep the faith!

New content just posted: WGN Flag & Decorating Co.
 

I have been working hard on my Pennant Fever BLOG, and I am happy to report that I just posted some new content. This time we're taking a look at WGN Flag & Decorating Co. of Chicago, IL. This post is full of observations, commentary, pictures, interviews, and even anecdotes. I think you'll enjoy reading it.

So when you're all through bleaching your stained pennants, wash your hands and do check it out: https://pennantfever.weebly.com/ . :)

Finally, I want to thank Rob G. of feltfootball.com and Matt Z. (pennantdynasty) for allowing me to use pictures from their sites for use in this and prior posts of mine.

Enjoy!

KB

I really enjoyed your write up on WGN pennants, Kyle. I was also amazed by the craftsmanship shown on your companion blog, pennantfactory.

I was happy to learn the maker of three Giants pennants I own. These pennants have always "bugged" me and, in a way, they still do. Why......?

I began collecting in 1993, finding most of my stuff through SCD. I started with ebay in 1998. In the first 5-7 years of collecting, I had never seen any of the Giants WGN pennants. Then, all of the sudden, they showed up regularly on ebay and always seemed to be in perfect shape. It has never made sense to me that these 40 year old (at the time) pennants always seemed to be pristine in both color and condition. "Warehouse find"? For what it's worth, the polychromatic version with 1958 seems to be the most common. I wonder if the two dated examples could be knockoffs of the other one, especially since your research puts these pennants in the mid-to-late 1960's. :confused:

Rob: Glad you enjoyed it :)

So, my impression of WGN was that, outside of Chicago teams, they did not really make MLB pennants until the mid to late 1960s. They made a few Cubs and White Sox pennants before then, but ... I wasn't aware of any dated pennants from non-local teams as early as 1958. Good find!

Most of the non-local MLB pennants I showed in my post appeared to be from the latter half of the 1960s. Note that the Cardinals one features a "Busch Memorial Stadium" (1966+) and the Braves one features the Atlanta Braves (1966+). The '64 Yankees one was the earliest dated one I could find for a non-Chicago team. I just assumed they all were made within a 4-5 year window.

Apparently not. I guess they adopted this style in the late 1950s and continued using it throughout the 60s..?

The Cincinnati Redlegs "Big Red Machine" one was a bit puzzling. The earliest reference to "Big Red Machine" I could find seems to have come in 1969; however, most historians would consider this team's reign to have spanned the 1970-79 range. By 1969, however, MLB had cracked down on unlicensed novelties, so I can't imagine WGN made this as late as 1970 or thereafter, but who knows....

The other interesting thing is that I didn't think the Reds were still using the name "Redlegs" by the late 1960s or 70s. Perhaps they used "Redlegs" over "Reds" to skirt copyright laws that MLB had begun enforcing? I am curious as to PerezFan's take on this.

Finally, you make an interesting point about the above-average condition these WGN pennants are consistently found in. I thought the same as you: that these were primarily unsold stock found in a warehouse recently. But, I'm starting to think they were just really well made.

Rob,
I can’t speak to the others, but the dated 1958 pennant was part of a large pennant find from a California antique dealer. I bought many of the one offs from this dealer along with quite a few of the 1958 version. This “find” also included many Rose Bowl pennants that you see around from the same era. I found that the bottom one is the most difficult for me to run across. BTW, there were also some matching dated Dodgers ones in this find as well. In regards to condition, they were all unsold stock from back in the day and NrMt condition.

No baseball, but here is a recent pick-up for the Fighting Irish fans, from when they could beat Clemson:

I rarely post any "pick ups" as most of the items I buy these days are for resale. Recently though, I came across two that I couldn't live without.

1. Early University of Minnesota Gophers baseball pennant. I have seen many other schools, but never the Gophers. This will fit perfectly with my collection of early Gophers baseball uniforms.

2. New York Yankees "Made in China" bedazzled pennant. I have seen this pennant before, but did not have it in my Yankees collection. This one is NrMt and I couldn't pass it up. For those who could have bid against me on it, thanks for not doing it.

I don't get the opportunity to add to my Yankees collection often as I am up against some big hitters in the pennant hobby. I was very happy to add these two.

Ok, back to bleaching before and afters. Jason

Awesome pickups, Jason! Love them both.... Had the Yankee Pennant many years ago, and it's one of those I truly regret parting with.

The Minnesota Pennant is a stunner. I know it's from the teens... Is it oversized? Two GREAT pickups!

Great read Kyle! Surprised to learn it was WGN making one of my favorite football styles...The DayGlo football player surrounded by smaller players in stars. I love that one. Seems they made a lot more college pennants in that style than pro. I rarely come across a pro team but a new college version will show up every few months. And not just midwest schools. Army, Navy, Syracuse, Kentucky have all turned up recently.

I was wondering about that Redlegs pennant too. It's an oddity. Big Red Machine became popular in the 1970s. Not sure why they made the Redlegs version because there is a much more common version of that pennant that says Reds.

Anyone have any insight?