[thetahat]

Mike, Mike, Adam, and Mark:

Thanks. It's the only thing I collect and I started about 12-13 years ago with the Mitchell and Ness repro pennants for decoration purposes. I live near Philly and used to go to their annual 50% off sale right around Super Bowl time. In their old store, though, they actually had some originals displayed for decoration (not for sale). This included some of the Phillies' Blue Jay pennants which fascinated me. So that got me going. After reading somewhere that flea markets were a good place to find old pennants I hit big on my first trip to one - bought a whole box of old felt pennants - then never hit again.

I think the '54 Indians pennant with the nine little indian players is similar in make/style to the Browns and Tigers pennants which picture the brownies/tigers on the baseball diamond. That's one I got a long time ago and didn't know how rare it was, until time went by and I never saw another.

The yellow Cubs pennant is legit, I won it in an auction some years ago with a similar Cardinals pennant. Someone auctioned a bunch of these awhile ago. The past Lelands auction had a batch of pennants, among them a fullsize Boston Bees pennant that I would've loved.

It's interesting that, seemingly, not much is known about the pennant companies of old. It would be nice if we could classify them by maker, as many do seem to have a common look to them, like the scroll pennants, stadium pennants, etc. I like those '51 two-color pennants, don't know who made them though. Mark: thanks for the heads-up on the Indians pennant ... I've seen it before and wish the seller came down off that price a little. From that series I still need the Browns, Indians, Cardinals, and Red Sox. The Keezer pennants have a classic look to them and many are stamped as such on the back. My favorite from that series is the Fighting Phillies pennant with the cartoon player; also have an early Astros pennant with a weird astronaut graphic. I won't buy Ad Flags because the artwork makes my eyes bleed and they never seem to be cut straight. I think the Ad Flag Phillies quaker pennant might even scare little children.

Lastly - Mark, see the picture below of the Giants pennant. It has a tag on the back ("Collegiate") and is like the other 3-D pennants of the Yankees and Dodgers. The lettering and graphic have a felt-like texture to it, similar to the picture pennants from 1960 ... it's felt, but it still can crack. He's holding a round ball, little wood bat and has googly-eyes that move and the bill of his cap sticks out (but not in the case, of course). It's one of my favorites. I'll post the Brownie pennant when I get home. Take care guys

Greg