Tag: advertising

Louisville Slugger pals

July 11, 2021

Here’s an interesting, even amusing, ad that I stumbled across from the June 1940 issue of Popular Science. The ad features an image of Joe DiMaggio kissing a Louisville Slugger baseball bat, the bat itself bearing a replica of DiMaggio’s signature. The text in the ad reads:

Pals!

“A ballplayer and his Louisville Slugger are like a man and his dog —INSEPARABLE PALS”— says Joe DiMaggio, Famous Yankee home run slugger and A.L. Champion last season.

Go to your dealer’s and look over the 1940 Genuine Autographed Louisville Sluggers. Your favorite ballplayer’s personally autographed bat is among them!

Free 1940 FAMOUS SLUGGER YEAR BOOK
from your dealer or send 5c in stamps or coin to Dept. Z-34
Hillerich & Bradsby Co., Louisville, Ky.

GENUINE Autographed LOUISVILLE SLUGGER BATS

Hillerich & Bradsby Co.
Louisville, KY.

Louisville Slugger - Joe DiMaggio - Popular Science
Popular Science, June 1940

“Sure Catch” sticky fly paper

November 6, 2020

Here is an interesting advertisement I came across in the online photo archives for the Library of Congress. The advertisement is for “Sure Catch” sticky fly paper, and it is estimated that this advertisement came out between 1853 and 1898, which would have been during that era when baseball was really beginning to develop and grow in popularity in America.

Sure Catch Fly paper baseball advertisement - LoC

The advertisement features flies playing baseball surrounded by a number of insets depicting a variety of scenarios. The caption along the border reads: “‘Sure Catch’ sticky fly paper, 25 double sheets, Sealed with flexible adhesive border. Prepared by J. Hungerford Smith Co., Manufacturing Chemists, Rochester, N.Y., U.S.A.”

It’s a clever little advertisement, for sure, and I find some of the inset illustrations rather amusing. It makes me wonder if this sticky paper was as good as the fly paper my dad used to hang in the garage while I was growing up.

“Sure Catch” sticky fly paper. [Between 1853 and 1898] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2008678726/>.