question about old pennants

[perezfan]

Greg...

GREAT stuff! I remember now, that we corresponded many months ago. It was about the oversized Cubs pennant and other things... right?

Thanks for posting the great set with the mascot on the left and the player vignette in the middle. That is one of my favorites too. I have found the St. Louis Browns to be the toughest, followed by the Boston Braves. I finally nailed down the Brownie a few years ago, but have been outbid on the Brave 3 times. It always goes for around $275 - $300.

There was a set of pins recently posted here on Net54 with the same exact mascots as in this set of pennants. It was interesting to see, as these particular unusual mascots have not been seen anywhere else. I traced this interesting pennant set to 1951, as a seller had a few of these- most of which were dated on the backs.

I share your interest in the Reds pennant (and great Avatar, btw!) That Mascot is vastly different than any other the Reds have ever had. Definitely more ominous than the friendly Mr. Red Baseball Head Guy. I have seen perhaps 5 of these in 20 years of collecting (Pennants + Reds stuff), and a few times it has been referred to as the "Mad Bomber" Pennant. I guess that's as good a name as any for it...

Thanks again for the terrific posts!

[perezfan]

Greg:

Thanks for posting the oversized Cubbie. I could tell from the tip of the Bat that probably was that one... what a beauty!

Quick final question... where did you find a plastic sleeve large enough to accomodate it? I have never been able to find these anywhere...

[cincicards]

100_0367.jpg

[perezfan]

Here's the Red Sox version from that series. Probably the 2nd or 3rd toughest from that set... a real toughie! I have others that I can't find right now. I think I know where the Tigers is, and will post it if I can find it...

[perezfan]

Here's a little closer view of the Pittsburgh one... freaky!

[thetahat]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the pictures. The weird thing about pennants from this series is that (a) they are pretty rare, yet (b) they seem to be in very good condition when you find them, often times close to mint. That Red Sox pennant of yours is amazing, must be the only one with the cartoon sock. I've seen two of the Browns, one went on Ebay not too long ago (this one was actually beat up some), it had a baseball scene as the primary logo. I also saw another version with a strange looking, full-bodied brownie.

Now you're right that 1951 makes sense, there's that Cubs anniversary pennant from this set that has '51 as the end date. Probably a range of a few years though since the Dodgers pennant says "NL Champs". I also think I once saw a Milwaukee Braves pennant with the same mascot as the Boston Braves pennant from this set that you mention.

Secondly, as far as the sheets for the oversized pennants, what you see is a cut-and-tape job made from three normal-sized pennant sheets. It doesn't look the greatest and I wanted to find a harder plastic and make my own cases for them, but this was the best I could come up with for now. They really should be framed, but then I'd have a tougher time displaying them with limited room on my walls.

Now here's a good question regarding your extensive collection of oversized pennants. I've never seen any of those 34" inchers of the Cardinals, Browns, and Phillies. Have you?

[perezfan]

There was a fabulous Mastro Auction many years ago that featured a miraculous find of 10 oversized Pennants from the early teens (probably 1913 to be exact). That section of the auction was titled "Mini Find of Maxi Felt". All 10 of the pennants remained NRMT or better (and all 10 were oversized).

7 of the 10 pennants featured a Manager's image on the left, with the other 3 (White Sox, Red Sox, Cubs) having a Team Mascot. Of the 7 Manager Pennants, the Cardinals and Phillies were BOTH included. The Cardinals was an incredible "Salt & Pepper" Red Felt with Miller Huggins depicted as the Manager. The Phillies was Navy Blue with Red Dooin as the Manager. They all sold for over $4,000 (with the Giants/McGraw Pennant going over $12K).

I have no isea where these unique pennants ended up, but I bet the majority went to a single collector (in the minute chance you are reading this, please post!) None of these have ever resurfaced in other auctions, and it has been well over a decade now...

As for the Phillies, there is another oversized version out there. It is also Navy Blue, with a giant blooming flower as the logo. It was featured in Mastro over a decade ago, and again in Huggins & Scott less than 2 years ago. I was under-bidder, and do not know who got it.

To your point, Greg, I have never seen a Browns or another Cardinals oversized version (aside from that amazing Miller Huggins version described above). Hope this info is helpful...

ps. If anyone reading this has access to that Mastro Catalogue with the "Mini Find of Maxi Felt" please snap a photo of that page and post it here. I want to say that Catalogue is from 1996 or so (give or take a couple years). Apparently, that auction was too early to make it into Legendary's archives. Thanks!