So, where did the souvenir helmet originate? If one should go
looking for the answer to this question then the logical choice would be to
first start with the real batting helmets. The very first batting
helmets originated in the 1950's. Branch Rickey, who owned the
American Baseball Cap Company, pushed for the design of a protective helmet
that could meet the needs of ball players. Once that was established,
then the first helmets came into regular use in Major League Baseball.
The first team to wear helmets was the Pittsburgh
Pirates in 1952, and of course this was a
team that Branch Rickey had previously been in charge of. It took
awhile for the players to adjust to the helmets because it was something new
and seemed awkward to wear on the diamond. It wasn't until 1971 that
MLB made it
mandatory for all new players to wear helmets, but of course,
some older players were allowed through a grandfather clause to not have to
wear helmets. Just like everything else that can be marketed in a
sport, someone came up with the idea to marker souvenir batting helmets.
(Please keep in mind that
I am still researching this information and the earliest info that deals
with Bobbie Enterprises and Sports Product Corp. is made by logical
assumptions by myself after looking inside my earliest helmets, determining
the first year of logos and clubs, and then drawing conclusions.) As for who
came up with the idea of souvenir helmets, I'm not for sure. I do
know, however, that the first company that I can find note of that made
helmets was a company called Bobbie Enterprises Inc. Bobbie
Enterprises Inc. was based out of Buffalo, New York, and was a distributor
of souvenir items in the 1960's and possibly 1950's? By looking at my
Kansas City
Athletics helmet, I assumed that 1963 may have been the earliest
that these helmets were made because that was the first year they used the kelly green color, but after searching the insides of my helmets and
referencing dates with Marc Okkonen's book,
Baseball Uniforms of the 20th
Century,
I now believe that date may be earlier. I have dated the logo on one
of my Cleveland Indians helmets back
to the years of 1954-57 (see helmet left). Inside it is stamped Bobbie
Enterprises, N.Y., so could one of those years be the earliest on record for
souvenir helmets? If so, it would make more sense considering how I
pointed out earlier that the Pirates team started to wear them in '52.
The strange thing, however, is that I
keep running across baseball cards with Cleveland players wearing this type
of cap in the mid-60's.
If you take the time to
look at the paper that
I found in a helmet still inside a bag, you would see that there is a
copyright date of 1961 and the bottom of the paper says Sports Product Corp.
There is no mention of Bobbie Enterprises Inc., but what is strange is how
would a kid be able to build a Kansas City Athletics helmet when there is no
offering of a solid kelly green helmet? The only logical answer to
that in 1961 would be that the kid would have slapped the
sticker on either
a navy or black helmet which would make sense for 1961, so I'm guessing there is one of those out there
somewhere that still eludes me. It would also be pretty hard
to make the Los Angeles
Angels helmet considering there is no black helmet
with a red bill. All of the other sticker/helmet combinations of that
time would be possible to design. So, the question is if the 1961
copyright date is right and the Los Angeles Angels were brought into MLB in
1961, is this then the start date for
souvenir helmets? Now, the only thing that would throw a huge wrinkle
into my thinking here would be if the 1961 copyright date is for the bobble
head dolls. I only say that because that could be the case after
reading
this website that contains hockey bobble
heads.