Boxes with my Dad's Name on Them Uncover Vintage Baseball Pennants

I come across two boxes up in the dance hall/storage space that have my dad's name written on them......Henry Joe (note my dad's full name is Henry Joseph Mautz)......ahhh, I have to see what is in them. I clear a path and dig them out of the corner they were in.

Red Dot Foods - A local Madison, WI company that merged with Lays in 1961 - There's an interesting story there

I still have yet to go through and fully process all that was in those two boxes. There were letters in there written to my dad - some from girls. There was a binder full of schoolwork. Book reports he had written from I'm guessing high school (my dad graduated in 1955). Strange to see the handwriting of your father from his high school days, particularly when you haven't seen his face or heard his voice in over 23 years. Oh how I wish he was still here. I have so many questions about the stuff in this box that I want to ask him.

My first questions after "Who is Gail?" would be "Where and when did you get all these baseball pennants?" "From a ballpark?" "In a store?" "From sending in Bazooka bubble gum wrappers?" (apparently that was a thing).

My favorites are the Milwaukee Braves pennants

Mini Pennants

I always knew that my dad was a big baseball fan. He was a big sports fan in general. But most of the different items of his that I have come across and many of the pictures of him in his younger years, were baseball related. Mary Ann did tell me in just this past year, that she remembered he was a big Brooklyn Dodgers fan. There is a lot of evidence that he was also a Milwaukee Braves fan (and I do know that he was a Milwaukee Brewers fan). Hank Aaron played for the Milwaukee Braves when in 1957 they won Milwaukee's only world series victory to date, so who wouldn't have been a fan of his local team! I have some fantastic programs from Milwaukee Braves games in the 1950s. Those actually weren't boxed up in his childhood home and instead he had these in the home he lived in when he passed away back in 1996. Somehow, those stayed with him.

Cool Button Secured to One of the Milwaukee Braves Pennants

My assumption is most of these pennants are from the 1950s. I love them and even though it's quite possible some of them are worth some money, I don't have a desire to get rid of them. I happen to love baseball too, so I'm thinking of framing them and finding a good spot to hang them in my home. They are way too cool to spend another 70 years boxed up and out of sight.

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Mautz's Tavern- A Historical Commentary

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