Tough Indians pennant, then and now

[Rob D.]

I always get a kick out of finding a vintage photo that includes souvenir items from the era. I have a few such photos that include Cleveland Indians pennants from the 1950s, but usually those pennants are the very common variety, i.e. Chief Wahoo's head on the left of the pennant and "Cleveland Indians" printed or in script on the right.

Today I received in the mail a book, Akron-Canton Baseball Heritage, and included in it are mentions and photos of the Indians. Much to my surprise I came across the photo below (sorry for the poor quality). The style of Indians pennant pictured in that group is a tough, tough example. I picked up the one in my collection (second photo below) just within the past five years. When the previous owner described it to me over the phone and was saying it had "wavy letters," I had no idea what he was talking about, because I'd never even seen this pennant before. I thought he was describing some kind of damage to the letters on the pennant. Needless to say when I saw it in person I was both thrilled and surprised.

To find an image of this pennant being sold back in the day, I think, is pretty cool.