Hey, pennant guys

[Fballguy]

Here's a weird one I picked up recently. A late 50's early 60's design for a team that didn't exist until 1969. 26" long and soft felt. Probably the most interesting pennant I've seen for one of baseball's least interesting teams.

Anyone have any insight on this one?

[perezfan]

Truly, those are two enigmas....

The Colt .45s graphics should definitely be on the front side, since they came first. Cannot conjure up a reason why the Astros portion is on the front.

The Expos Pennant may have been taken from old/existing stock. The gap between the Batter and the team name is very wide (and not the norm). So perhaps it was an unused generic "Batter" pennant that later was purposed for the Expos.

I know this process was done (to some extent) back in the day, and is the only explanation I can think of. In addition, that same generic Batter Mascot was used for many teams, as discussed earlier in this thread. So it might make sense that a small left-over stash of these was retained for this very purpose (rather than wasted/discarded).

That said, it's the only one I've ever seen, and is by far the most attractive and interesting Expos Pennant extant.

[ooo-ribay]

re: the Expos pennant...

I've seen that batter on hundreds of pennants but don't think I've EVER seen the large ball with "movement marks" around it.

[perezfan]

Originally Posted by ooo-ribay

re: the Expos pennant...

I've seen that batter on hundreds of pennants but don't think I've EVER seen the large ball with "movement marks" around it.

There’s a Milwaukee Braves Pennant with the same Batter and “pulsating” Ball, but it’s full-sized.

[Huysmans]

Originally Posted by Fballguy

Here's a weird one I picked up recently. A late 50's early 60's design for a team that didn't exist until 1969. 26" long and soft felt. Probably the most interesting pennant I've seen for one of baseball's least interesting teams.

Anyone have any insight on this one?

"One of baseball's least interesting teams"??

Ever heard of the Tampa Bay Rays?

[Fballguy]

Originally Posted by Huysmans

"One of baseball's least interesting teams"??

Ever heard of the Tampa Bay Rays?

I don't even acknowledge the existence of any team that came into being post 1980.

[islesnut]

Picked up an insanely rare 1969-70 season Pittsburgh Penguins pennant.

I've never seen another one for sale in my almost 9 years of collecting hockey pennants.

The second photo is an image from the Penguins first-ever Stanley Cup Playoff game in April of 1970 against the Oakland Seals. You'll see on the novelty items for sale page that this is the exact Penguins pennant they sold at the game during the 69-70 season for $1. This is how I was able to determine when this was sold.

It's actually quite odd that this pennant is so hard to find. Maybe they just never made many of them for sale, or people just didn't buy them.

[Fballguy]

Great Penguins pennant and your post is very timely. I was just about to pose the question: Does anyone have photos or other provenance of any of their pennants that helps pinpoint their origins? Very cool that you're able to connect the dots on this one.

I'd love to see what others have been able to find.

[islesnut]

Originally Posted by Fballguy

Great Penguins pennant and your post is very timely. I was just about to pose the question: Does anyone have photos or other provenance of any of their pennants that helps pinpoint their origins? Very cool that you're able to connect the dots on this one.

I'd love to see what others have been able to find.

Thanks. Great question actually. Outside of the common hockey pennants - NHL services dated ones and 1980s and prior, finding images of vintage hockey pennants are near impossible. Most team programs from the 70s and prior didn't have images- and if they did, they didn't show pennants- mostly t shirts and pucks. To be honest, I didn't even know this Penguins pennant existed until I flipped through this game program and saw it. I like to collect first year/first game hockey items.

[perezfan]

That's a great Penguins Pennant. Do you know for sure that it was sold at the stadium? Perhaps it was sold only via the Catalog, and that explains the rarity.

I'm guessing 98% of all pennants were to sold to fans in person/at the stadium, as opposed to them mailing in. I worked for a major (top 10) Food Company, who did Mail-in discount coupons as well as IRCs (instantly redeemable in-store coupons). Redemption rates on the IRCs were in the 90% range, as opposed to roughly 2-3% redemption for the mail-in type.

Most people just don't make the effort to complete paperwork and mail-in, and seem to prefer the ease of an impulse-driven purchase.

Just a theory... However, if you know for a fact that this pennant was sold at souvenir stands within the stadium, then nevermind

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by Fballguy

Great Penguins pennant and your post is very timely. I was just about to pose the question: Does anyone have photos or other provenance of any of their pennants that helps pinpoint their origins? Very cool that you're able to connect the dots on this one.

I'd love to see what others have been able to find.

Here's few example of "provenance":

I don't know the year of the ice cream bar wrapper but I know the Giants pennant pictured ("crowd at feet").

The 1964 Giants merchandise mailer shows some pennants (the Giants one is somewhat rare).

The picture of the vendor is from the 1961 All Star Game.

[Fballguy]

Awesome information Rob. Particularly interesting to me is I recently picked up an old Steelers pennant that supposedly still had the original stick...and the stick looks exactly like the one in the all star game photo with the round ball on the end. I don't place much value on the stick, just think it's kind of cool.

Let's see some more.

I know football card wrappers from the late 50's/early 60's advertised a Ram pennant mail in offer. I've always wondered what pennant that was.