I appreciate your skepticism. I think the problem is the 1950 Whiz Kids pennant represents the tail end of a series Trench used for more than a decade, beginning in the early 1940s. As one would expect, pennants from this series will differ from those of the next generation.
Yours is right on the cusp of that transition from the old style to the new. Accordingly, it lacks some of the distinctive Trench characteristics we’ve come to associate with their 1950s and even 1960s offerings.
But, IMHO, that doesn’t mean it’s not by Trench. I’ve studies the old series and identified numerous instances where the supporting text (e.g., “N.Y. Yankees”) was reused on a different style pennant featuring known Trench artwork. That’s how I first made the connection.
If you apply the same logic as above, we shouldn’t be surprised to learn Trench made these. Trench was always considered an innovative company. There were even less pennant makers using polychromatic designs in the 1940s. This colorful design distinguished them from their competition; nearly all of whom were making monochrome pennants. Eventually, by the 1950s, other makers began making limited two-color pennants … but they were behind the times. In response, by the 1950s, Trench began offering team-specific pennants featuring unique artwork. We see this, for example, in their stadium pennant series. Again, nobody else was doing anything like this. Others eventually copied it … but it took some time. By the 1960s, they begin offering photo pennants, yet another innovative success that launched them ahead of their competition.
So your Whiz Kids pennant, in my eye, just happens to have been made during the transition from the old to the new style. That’s probably why it doesn’t look right, to you. But, that style, 10 years earlier, would have been cutting edge.
And, that means Trench likely made it, in my view.
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