| |
For decades, placemats were used by
restaurants to keep their patrons
entertained, educated, and amused while
they were waiting for their meals to be
served. They were meant to be used once
and discarded, making most a rare
commodity. Whether made for a famous
restaurant with a baseball theme, or a
small diner, they are interesting,
inexpensive and fun to collect.
In the late 1930s place mats were being
used quite extensively in the place of
table cloths. Some homes used paper
dollies to obtain the same effect, and
thus eliminating laundering.
Restaurants soon picked up on the idea
of using paper placemats. Unlike the
modern paper placemat, which measure
about 10 by 14 inches,the standard
size for placemats by the 1940s was 12
by 18 inches.
They were also made of heavier paper. In 1941, The Quick Print company
located at 1223 Washington Avenue in
Racine Wisconsin, produced this
Official Baseball Score Card placemat.
The Quick print Official Baseball Score
card was one of the earliest placemats
made for commercial use, providing
advertisement for local businesses. The
placemat also provides scores of major
league games played on April 30, 1941,
and home runs hit that day.
In 1937, a season removed from his
All-Star rookie season with the New
York Yankees, Joe DiMaggio invested
$25,000 in the restaurant. Named "Joe
DiMaggio's Grotto," he brought his
brothers in, and left Tom in charge to
run the business. Their farther Giuseppe was a lifelong fisherman, as were generations of
DiMaggio's before him.
Not long before
the restaurant was
opened, the father
and older brothers set out every
morning to take crabs off the ocean
floor. Joe received a wholesale price
of 22 cent a crab for his catch.
The brown and gold print placemat depicts Joe
DiMaggio's World Famous Restaurant &
Cocktail lounge. The lower right
reads: "World Famous, Di Maggio's,
Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge, enquire
about our banquet facilities PH. 675
2266" Most placemats found in the
market are autographed and folded. And,
if the signature is not properly
authenticated, they do not sell much
more than an unsigned placemat.
Disagreeing with the umpire is a
tradition as American baseball itself.
The men in blue whose word is law on
the diamond are accustomed to the
catcalls and squawks of players and
fans. They've been hearing it ever
since the 1870's when they began making
decisions for pay... This © 1959
"Chin To Chin" placemat was
produced by Aatell & Jones Inc., of
South Howard Street, Phila.
Aatelli & Jones was a manufacturer of custom and stock design tray covers,
place mats, dollies, coasters, credit
cards, drink lists, and other related
products for hospitals, hotels, and
restaurants. The paper
placemat, printed in blue-tone, depicts
multiple images of a catcher and
umpire, discussing a disagreement of
the rules on a call. Scattered umpire
calls throughout the placemat includes:
Fair Ball, Strike 2, Triple play, foul
tip, take your base, ball 2, double play,
fair ball, stolen base, your out, wild
pitch, passed ball, steal.
 Aatelli
& Jones also produced this
1958 "Baseballs Proud Heritage" Yankee
Stadium placemat. It cites that
"Baseball, in some form has been played
in the United States for over 200 years
... It's official birthday is 1839 but
many pre-revolutionary diaries,
including that of John Adams,
second President, contains references
to baseball" It also covers in short,
World Series history, records held
by Babe Ruth, Yogi Berra, and Frank Frisch. The placemat also mentions;
the late Ed Barrow, in 1939 brought
back all surviving members of the 1927
Yankees to honor Lou Gehrig at the
Stadium... I has become an annual
practice and it's continuity will be
preserved at Yankee Stadium on August
9, when Old-timers of the Yankees and
Red Sox will meet before the regularly
scheduled contest of the two current
clubs. Below a depiction of Yankee
Stadium is the Yankees home schedule
from July 5 to the 20th.
The
1960 Pittsburgh Pirates "Beat 'em
Bucs" paper placemats were designed and
distributed by Sentinel printing co. in
Somerset, Pennsylvania. The placemats
were used in a majority of the
restaurants in the borough since the
Pirates clinch the pennant.
Besides being sold to fans by the Sentinel printing co., they were also
made available free through the Oakland
News publication.
There are different versions of this placemat. Two feature the headline
"Beat 'em Bucs" with "Pittsburgh
Pirates.... 1960" below, followed by a
black-&-white team picture. one has
"Printed by The Oakland News" on the
bottom right.
 The
other has advertising.
Another version printed by Park Printing in Pittsburgh, pictures the 1925
and 1927 Pirates at the top, and below
it, in the centered the larger 1960
Pirates team photo. The bottom had
"Beat 'em Bucs" in both corners. The
players are also listed.
After the Pirates beat the Yankees in the 1960 World Series, another
placemat was produced reading "How
Sweet It Is" at the top followed by
"Champion Pittsburgh Pirates 1960" then
the team photo, with the same
advertising at the bottom.
Springprint, a Springfield, Ohio, based
company, was known nation-wide as a
producer of placemats, coasters and
other customized dinning accessories.
Back in the 1960s and '70s, if you ever
studied a placemat on a restaurant
table, while waiting for your meal,
odds were they were produced by
springprint.
Dine were you may-Seattle or Miami, San Diego or Boston, or even Hawaii,
you undoubtedly have been served at a
table on some of the paper products
manufactured by Springprint. They
produced Baseball Guide, and Big League
Baseball schedule Placemats since the
company was established in 1957.
The full color "1974 Baseball Guide" placemat depicts a batter waiting
for the pitch. This image was used on a
number of other baseball themed
placemats produced by Springfield, like
the Big League Baseball 1963 Schedule
pictured above.
The placemat lists; "Pennant Winners & World Champions," from 1973 down
to 1903; "National League Leaders,"
Batting Champs, Home Run Champions,
Leading Pitcher (Earned Run Ave.) 1973
down to 1951; "American League
Leaders," Batting Champs, Home Run
Champions, "Leading Pitcher (Earned Run
Ave.)" 1973 down to 1951; "Last Seasons
Pace Setters," National League and
American League; "Most Valuable Player"
NL & AL.
With the belief that television would
hurt attendance, the Milwaukee Braves
were against television broadcasts in
Wisconsin. The Braves were featured
occasionally on ABC's "Game Of The
Week" broadcasts during the 1950s, but
were blacked out in Wisconsin.
It was not until 1962, when the Braves announced that 15 road games would
be televised. In 1963 the TV schedule
was increased to 26 games, as reflected
on this placemat. The
Blatz Beer
Milwaukee Braves On TV Promotion
placemats features the Blatz Bottle
catcher, Keg umpire, and the Blatz beer
Can base runner. The top Flag Reads
"Draft-Brewed," and the Bottom Flag
Reads Brings You the Braves on TV.
A statue was also produced
depicting the same scene.
 This
placemat was used in the New York Mets
Shea Stadium Diamond Club in 1964.
It features Mr. Met pitching and
batting, separated by the New York Mets
skyline logo.
The blue and orange print placemat depicts Shea Stadium from the parking
lot with fans heading to the ball game.
The bottom right corner has a Domino
Placemats copyright.
Another like placemat used in the late 1960s and into the 1970s, depicts Lady Met"
later known as Mrs. Met, which was
originated by the Lady Met Fan Cub
formed in 1966. It does not have a
Domino placemats makers-mark. The Shea
Stadium, Diamond Club Restaurant opened
with the ballpark in 1964. Fans with
tickets were treated to an upscale
dinning experience while watching the
ball game. Hostesses greeted & sat its
patrons down to their seats.
"A History Of
Baseball" placemats were produced in
1964 by the Jay-Dee Co. which was
located in Brooklyn New York. Jay-Dee
Co. was a manufacturer of place mats,
straws, and other restaurant related
products.
This placemat was produced for Linton's Friendly restaurant. Linton's had
26 locations at one time in the
Philadelphia area.
Unable to compete with fast-food
chains, and reduced to 13 restaurants
Linton's filed for bankruptcy in 1978.
The blue and red print, "A History Of
Baseball" placemat depicts a 19th
century, and a modern day ballplayer,
with a stadium background. It lists
Baseballs World Championships from 1903
to 1963. Below, lists Hall Of Fame
inductees, from 1936 to 1964; "In
cooperation with National Baseball Hall
of Fame and Museum, Inc. Cooperstown,
New York."
The
"Hall of Fame Baseball Quiz" placemats
were produced by Papererades Inc., a
specialty paper manufacturer of
restaurant placemats, located in Rhode
Island. The two black and blue print,
"Hall of Fame Baseball Quiz" placemat
depicts pinstripe uniform number 3 Babe
Ruth swinging for the fences on the
right. The top features twelve Hall of
Famers in numbered circles.
Theses are the answers to the 12 fill-in-the-blank statements below them.
-
"See if you can match these famous Hall
of Fame members with the correct
description" - Hall Of Fame players
pictured include: Rogers Hornsby,
Grover Cleveland Alexander, Christy
Mathewson, Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Honus Wagner, Chas. A Comiskey, and 17
others featured on two placemats.
At the bottom sandwiched between two baseball action sketches reads:
"Candidates shall be chosen on the
basis of playing ability, integrity,
sportsmanship, character, and their
contribution to the team, on which they
played and to baseball in general. ~
Rules For Election."
By 1975, the growing restaurant
community in the "Queen City" already
hosted Ted Kluszewski's Steak House,
and Johnny Bench's Home Plate. But
Cincinnati still had an apatite for
"Pete Rose's Restaurant" at 3360
Westbourne Drive.
The 10 by 14 inch
Pete Rose's Restaurant placemat was
produced by Hoffmaster Co., Inc. of
Wisconsin, manufacturers of cellutex
paper napkins, and paper specialties.
It
depicts Pete Rose in a Cincinnati Reds
number 14 uniform, on one knee to the
left of a baseball diamond.
Rose visited the establishment two or three times a week when the Reds
were in town. The young waitresses wore
red skirts, baseball caps and white
baseball uniform tops, all bearing
Rose's No. 14. Even the cooks wore
baseball garb and work in a kitchen
that resembles a dugout.
Names of dishes on the menu included "Head First Slide" (fried fish), and
"Grand Slam" (turkey, ham, tomatoes,
bacon and cheese sauce on toast). A
second Cincinnati eatery,
"Pete Rose Champion Restaurant,"
held a Grand Opening Weekend, May 5th
to May 7th, 1978 at 155 Northland Blvd.
The Pete Rose Ballpark Cafe opened in
1992 in the Lakeside Center on Glades
Road in West Boca Raton. Designed to
resemble a miniature baseball stadium
the Pete Rose Cafe had towering stadium
lights shinning down on the exterior.
Patrons entering the cafe passed
through turnstiles just like the
ballpark.
Once inside Pete's incredible collection of baseball honors was on display
in lengthy showcases lining the
entrance-way. One of the largest
collections of accolades ever assembled
anywhere by a single athlete. On
display were the bat & ball that Rose
used to hit his famous 4,256th record
hit. World Series rings, All-Star bats
and balls, plaques, trophies, awards,
and numerous other sports memorabilia.
The 10 by 16 inch, paper
placemat features a large Pete Rose Ballpark Cafe
baseball diamond logo, depicting Rose
in his number 14 uniform, swinging a
bat. The bottom left has the address:
"8144 W. Glades Rd. Boca Raton, Florida
33434" followed by the phone number
"407-488-Pete" on the right center.
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
KEYMAN COLLECTIBLES
RELATED RESOURCES |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Half the fun of
collecting is showing off your collection to
others. Lets See your Room! |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Showcase
your collection on KeyMan Collectibles for Free!.
Just send pictures, and
Get Your Collectors Showcase Room Now! |
|
| |
|
|
| |
KeyMan
Collectibles Collectors Corner
- Keep up with the latest collecting news,
announcements, and articles of interest on the
webs best resource for baseball memorabilia. |
|
| |
KeyMan Collectibles Baseball
Memorabilia Facebook Group -
Post Questions and comments relating to
Baseball Collectibles and Memorabilia. Interact
with other collectors or show off your
collection. |
|
| |
KeyMan
Collectibles Forum
- A great option for those that "Don't do
facebook" Post Questions and
comments relating to Baseball Collectibles and
Memorabilia |
|
|
