Hey, pennant guys

[thetahat]

Mark, whoa that’s crazy! Quite possibly .... are there any other team buttons like this?

So I would have to think these aren’t Trench, they are nowhere near alike.

[Domer05]

Wow Greg, I'm astonished by your observations. Yet again, you have presented a convincing case of a pennant series and/or common manufacturer.

I had not realized that these select name-on-the-body pennants were made by the "sliding runner" mystery maker. The "sliding runner" maker is of great interest to me. While they only made a small quantity of these name-on-the-body pennants and only for certain teams, they sure made a lot of these sliding runner pennants.

I'm stumped as to who this maker was; but, I'm quite certain it wasn't Trench. Many of the "sliding runner" pennants have no tassels and are monochrome. Trench was offering polychromatic graphics by the 1940s; and, except for a handful made in the year 1959, they always used tassels through 1970.

In addition to the "sliding runner" baseball series, this same maker also made an equally popular football series, which we may call "the Heisman" series. I'll let Fballguy tell you how common this design was in the 1940s....

Whoever this mystery maker was, they made a ton of pennants in the 1940s.

[thetahat]

Yes that’s no doubt the same company. They also used simple team specific logos ... the Phillies Blue Jay pennants all fall into this style. Here’s another oddity that is common among these .... some have a spine in two pieces, but with unbroken stitching. So they were clearly produced this way. I have a few like this ....

[bocca001]

As I'm sure you know, that Heisman series is common (many schools) for college teams in the 1940s, as well as pro teams. I know you look for these things, Kyle, but it is hard to imagine that the schools (assuming they were sold by schools) were not ordering from some sort of catalog.

[Fballguy]

Originally Posted by bocca001

As I'm sure you know, that Heisman series is common (many schools) for college teams in the 1940s, as well as pro teams. I know you look for these things, Kyle, but it is hard to imagine that the schools (assuming they were sold by schools) were not ordering from some sort of catalog.

Not just universities but high schools too! And not just NFL but AAFC too. Whoever the maker was they had the entire market cornered. And as mentioned...They made a lot. The sliding runner and stiff arm RB are the two most common styles from that era.

[Domer05]

Originally Posted by bocca001

As I'm sure you know, that Heisman series is common (many schools) for college teams in the 1940s, as well as pro teams. I know you look for these things, Kyle, but it is hard to imagine that the schools (assuming they were sold by schools) were not ordering from some sort of catalog.

Marc: I totally agree. This company probably offered one or two stock drawings for each customer/retailer/school; and this stiff arming running back seemed to be the most popular for football pennants.

Whoever this company was, they had a national market share on the same level as Trench. So, whoever they are ... we've probably come across their name somewhere before, perhaps on a non-pennant souvenir, e.g., pinback.

Fballguy would know, but I'm pretty sure "the Heisman" was always monochrome; and, more often than not, without tassels?

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by thetahat

Yes that’s no doubt the same company. They also used simple team specific logos ... the Phillies Blue Jay pennants all fall into this style. Here’s another oddity that is common among these .... some have a spine in two pieces, but with unbroken stitching. So they were clearly produced this way. I have a few like this ....

They must have really been pinching pennies if they were using spine scraps!

[bocca001]

For the Heisman runner, mine have no tassels.

For the also common kicker, which I always assumed was the same maker (but maybe not?) I have with and without tassels (the one with tassels clearly older).

[MK]

I assume maybe they made these over a period of 2 or 3 years and each batch had some differences. The number on the runner varies and the font of the letters is not the same.

[ooo-ribay]

As you guys know, there are different variations of the sliding runner, other than just different numbers...