references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . october 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message rawlings type subsidiary founded st. louis missouri 1887 headquarters town and country missouri usa parent newell brands website www.rawlings.com rawlings is a sports equipment manufacturing company based in the united states and founded in 1887 . the parent company has been newell brands since 2016 . rawlings specializes in baseball equipment but also manufactures softball basketball training equipment and american footballs . they have also recently started making fan gear such as chairs tents and bags with team logos on them . horween leather company has provided rawlings with leather since 1929 . 1 in 2003 horween was providing leather for 3 000 rawlings baseball gloves annually and half of professional baseball players were using baseball gloves made from horween leather . 2 contents 1 history 1.1 rawlings and major league baseball 1.2 rawlings and american legion baseball 1.3 rawlings and national football league 2 footnotes 3 external links history edit rawlings was founded in saint louis in 1887 during the middle of the long depression by george and alfred rawlings . the brothers set up a sporting goods store with its own catalog . they sold fishing tackle guns baseball football golf polo tennis athletic and general sporting goods . 3 the company is credited with introducing football shoulder pads in 1902 and the first all weather football . rawlings and major league baseball edit it began providing the st louis cardinals with gloves in 1906 and all of the major leagues with balls the next year . in 1920 bill doak a pitcher for the st. louis cardinals suggested that a web be placed between the first finger and the thumb in order to create a pocket . this design soon became the standard for baseball gloves . doak patented his design and sold it to rawlings . his design became the precursor to modern gloves and enabled rawlings to become the preferred glove of professional players . 4 in 1955 spalding bought rawlings and began using it to manufacture baseballs . in 1957 the company introduced the gold glove award which became the major award for baseball . it also and sponsors the minor league baseball milb rawlings woman executive of the year award . 13 years after acquiring it an anti trust investigation forced spalding to sell rawlings again but as it did so spalding set up a contract that would have rawlings manufacture baseballs to sell with the spalding logo . when this agreement ended in 1977 rawlings began using its own logo becoming the official supplier of the major leagues . spalding had been the supplier for a century . all the balls supplied to the major and minor leagues are manufactured in costa rica . 5 additional low end versions are manufactured in china . 6 many major leaguers have endorsed rawlings equipment over the years . there are four main series for the gloves the gold glove series the heritage pro series the heart of the hide series the pro preferred series and the gold glove collection series . rawlings and american legion baseball edit rawlings sponsors the rawlings big stick award which is presented to the american legion baseball player who accumulated the most total bases . 7 rawlings and national football league edit as of august 19 2010 rawlings signed a multi year deal with the national football league for products such as tent canopies grills and chairs . this will also include non exclusive tailgate products such as coolers stadium seats and footballs . 8 in 2005 rawlings corporate headquarters were moved from fenton missouri to town and country missouri . 9 footnotes edit william hageman december 19 2004 . take him back to the ball game . chicago tribune . retrieved march 26 2013 . barbara rolek october 27 2003 . horween s leather bound by tradition . chicago tribune . retrieved october 3 2015 . rawlings sporting goods co. inc. history the company was founded in 1887 by george and alfred rawlings brothers who opened a small store in st. louis . its first catalogue characterized the company as dealers in fishing tackle guns baseball football golf polo tennis athletic and general sporting goods . the store soon went up in flames so the rawlings brothers got into manufacturing in 1898 in partnership with charles w. scudder who put up the money . stamp jimmy . the invention of the baseball mitt . www.smithsonianmag.com . smithsonian.com . retrieved 27 april 2015 . leslie josephs march 9 2010 . made in costa rica u.s. major league baseballs . reuters . retrieved june 22 2016 . diane m. grassi july 25 2006 . baseball & rawlings bring new meaning to free trade . renewamerica.com . retrieved june 22 2016 . baseball awards . the american legion baseball official website . retrieved 2009 11 21 . nfl and rawlings sign deal sports business digest unknown . rawlings to move hq to maryville centre . st. louis business times . retrieved 31 july 2014 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to rawlings baseball equipment . rawlings corporate site rawlings gold glove award site . rawlings gear v t e newell brands newell company rubbermaid newell rubbermaid sanford l.p. elmer s products jarden corporation writing utensils sharpie paper mate dymo expo elmer s krazy glue liquid paper parker uniball prismacolor x acto waterman consumer solutions bionaire breville uk crock pot foodsaver health o meter holmes mr. coffee oster patton rival sunbeam villaware outdoor solutions coleman jostens k2 marmot pure fishing abu garcia berkley penn shakespeare rawlings adio exofficio madshus marker v lkl tools irwin industrial tools lenox tools commercial products rubbermaid commercial products baby and parenting graco nuk aprica baby jogger home solutions rubbermaid calphalon goody contigo bubba branded consumables first alert jarden home brands diamond pine mountain ball bernardin lehigh crawford mapa loew cornell united states playing card company bicycle bee hoyle kem waddington yankee candle resistat rino tuff weed warrior yorker process solutions jarden zinc products jarden plastic solutions jarden applied materials retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title rawlings company & oldid 743125040 categories sportswear brandscompanies established in 1887sporting goods manufacturers of the united statescompanies based in st. louis county missouripearson plchidden categories articles lacking reliable references from october 2011all articles lacking reliable referencescommons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links 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