These two companies are rivals through and through. Wilson’s headquarters is located in Chicago, IL, while Rawlings’s headquarters in located in St. Louis, MO. Wilson first provided gloves of the Chicago Cubs. At the same time, Rawlings was providing gloves to the St. Louis Cardinals. It’s ironic that such rival companies started with two of the biggest rivals in sports. Rawlings is credited with introducing shoulder pads to football, and Wilson was owned by Pepsi. However, a Rawlings sponsored Cardinals player came up with the standard design for baseball gloves. Rawlings eventually bought the idea from him and produced this design.
While both companies claim they are the preferred choice of the MLB, only Rawlings can truly claim this as a fact. According to a survey done by What Pros Wear, 39% of players use Rawlings, only a mere 28% use Wilson. Rawlings also gives the prestigious Gold Glove award. On the other hand, Wilson gives the less prestigious Wilson Defensive Player of the Year award. …show more content…
They are actually more similar than different. Many of their patterns are similar. While Wilson uses Japanese cattle for their leather compared to Rawlings Tennessee leather. The leather is almost identical in quality. They both feature a synthetic wrist backing to allow for coolness of the hand while in the glove. However, Wilson offers forty nine a2000 gloves and Rawlings offers sixty four Heart of the Hide gloves. This may result in more Rawlings purchases because they may have a glove Wilson does not