Hey, pennant guys

[thetahat]

Now here’s a pennant mystery for our pal Kyle.

You might have seen before the late 40s/early 50s Tigers “Johnny Groth” pennant. Why Johnny Groth? He seemed like an okay player - he played OF - but only 5.8 career WAR, just an ordinary regular. No such pennant for George Kell, Vic Wertz or another half dozen better players. Odd.

Well Marc tipped me off to this weird 1960 Pirates pennant on eBay. Not a full team scroll but just the lineup … who is playing shortstop? “Groth”.

Now wait a minute. The SS was Dick Groat, not Groth. Johnny had finished his career as a reserve earlier that year … for Detroit. Never played for Pittsburgh.

So what is it about Johnny Groth? Well one thing is very clear: these are both WGN pennants. Same style and the font used for player names is a giveaway.

Pulling up Johnny Groth’s SABR bio, you learn he was born and raised in Chicago, and his father was an electrotype salesman. So … looks like hometown boy got some extra love!

Johnny passed away last August at age 95 … had 28 grandchildren …

[thetahat]

Also, who the heck is playing second? Two M’s in Mazeroski???

[bocca001]

What a funky cool pennant. Never even noticed that it was Groth and not Groat.

[Domer05]

Originally Posted by thetahat

Now here’s a pennant mystery for our pal Kyle.

Hmmm, never seen this Tigers pennant with the Groth variation. Really weird. I wonder if maybe they added his name, after-the-fact, as part of ... a promotion he may have appeared at?? I dunno. That's really weird.

Maybe he was a fan favorite, and the Tigers hosted a "Johnny Groth Day," and they made a limited run of these for the occasion?

As to the 1960 one, that's an even weirder pennant. Ugly, too. I'm not sure it's by WGN ... other than the name "GROTH" it looks unlike other known WGN baseball pennants post-1958, many of which (but not all) were polychromatic and featured their Day-Glo paint scheme.

What's the significance of, "Law Friend Face"??

[bocca001]

Pitchers: Vern Law, Bob Friend, Roy Face

Possible source/day for the Detroit pennant:

https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/apri...marching-home/

[thetahat]

Originally Posted by bocca001

Pitchers: Vern Law, Bob Friend, Roy Face

Possible source/day for the Detroit pennant:

https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/apri...marching-home/

That’s great info! Thanks Marc. Apparently he was very popular.

[thetahat]

Originally Posted by Domer05

Hmmm, never seen this Tigers pennant with the Groth variation. Really weird. I wonder if maybe they added his name, after-the-fact, as part of ... a promotion he may have appeared at?? I dunno. That's really weird.

Maybe he was a fan favorite, and the Tigers hosted a "Johnny Groth Day," and they made a limited run of these for the occasion?

As to the 1960 one, that's an even weirder pennant. Ugly, too. I'm not sure it's by WGN ... other than the name "GROTH" it looks unlike other known WGN baseball pennants post-1958, many of which (but not all) were polychromatic and featured their Day-Glo paint scheme.

What's the significance of, "Law Friend Face"??

Oh I’m fairly certain it’s WGN. Or let’s say that I’m certain it was made by the same designers who made WGN pennants in the 40s and early 50s. Maybe another company signed them as free agents LOL. Spine/tassels/stitching all resemble the style of the Groth Tigers pennant and others. Thin tassels that are same color as the body, closer towards the center than corners, thick spine, white single stitch thread. Here’s a ‘44 Browns pennant with the exact same handwritten letter font. And then of course there’s the weird Groth connection.

They made a not too uncommon ‘59 Chisox scroll pennant in all-white print. I will say that even by the early 50s they stopped using tassels on most pennants and the spine was narrower. So it’s odd that this resembles their earlier ones. I still think that points to simply having multiple styles.

Another Groth related oddity is that I am almost certain that WGN made a 1946 dated pennant with roster, which was Groth’s rookie year. Had only 9 ABs.