Dodge Davis Vintage Uniform questions

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Posted By: Alan Elefson

Hi-
I recently acquired this vintage uniform (pictured below, sorry for the poor pictures) at a local antique auction house and I had a few questions concerning it that I was hoping this board might be able to answer. The label reads "Genuine Dodge Davis Flannel" and the shirt and pants have red and blue piping down the sides. There is no team name on the front, nor is there a number on the back. Here are my questions:
1. How unusual is it to have no team name on the front of a vintage uniform such as this? The antique auction had a huge supply of vintage, never worn clothing, so despite the staining, perhaps this uniform was never sold?
2. What is the approximate age of this uniform?
3. Is it unusual for the shirt to have a zipper in lieu of buttons?
4. Any additional information that you could provide would be greatly appreicated!
Thanks in advance,
Alan Elefson
aelefson@hotmail.com

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Posted By: Chris Counts

I did a Google search for Dodge Davis and found quite a few listings in various auctions for their flannels, most of which dated from the 1940s, with a few in the 30s or '50s. Evidently, they were quite a reputable company and they even made major league uniforms. As for the zippers, I believe their popularity peaked in the 40s and 50s.

Also, here's something I found on the use of zippers on jerseys ...

"The earliest baseball jerseys couldn't use zippers, because the zipper wasn't even invented until 1891 and wasn't perfected until 1914. According to an old Sporting News article, the first MLBer to zip up was White Sox player/manager Jimmy Dykes, who supposedly switched from buttons to a zipper in 1936 because it allowed him to remove his jersey more easily and "get away to his after-dinner speaking much earlier." A year later came the first fully zippered team, the 1937 Cubs, and the trend began taking off from there. Three more big league teams got zippified in 1938 (the White Sox, Tigers, and Dodgers), another four in '39 (the Senators, Browns, Pirates, and Cardinals), and one more in 1940 (the Giants). That was also the year the Cubs wore history's first zippered vest (a style later worn by the 1963-69 Indians). When the dust settled in 1941, half of the 16 teams in the bigs were zipping up, giving the game a more hardware-ish look.

"While zippers never revisited that high-water mark, there was at least one zipper-clad team -- and often three or four -- for 44 of the next 45 seasons. The zippered era finally came to a close in 1987, when the Phillies, who'd been zipping up since 1973, went back to buttons."

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Posted By: Alan Elefson

Thanks Chris! That is excellent information. I really appreciate it!
Alan Elefson
aelefson@hotmail.com