One hundred years ago, a largely forgotten St. Louis Cardinals pitcher sketched an idea for a new kind of glove, presented it to the Rawlings Sporting Goods Company of St. Louis, and forever changed the way baseball is played.
Spittin’ Bill Doak should be remembered and exalted. It’s a crime that the slender right-hander, who pitched for the Redbirds from 1913 to 1924 and again in 1929, is not in the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.
A winner of 169 games and two NL ERA crowns, Doak made an even greater impact by designing and patenting the first popular baseball glove that featured webbing between the thumb and index finger.