A few years back, I stumbled onto a really interesting booklet advertising a helmet that was modeled by Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean.

‘Helmet’ is probably a bit of an incorrect term. The item would be considered more of a ‘hat’ by today’s standards. But it likely gets that name because it was a style of hat that is usually referred to as a pith helmet.

The booklet is a curious one but appears to have been issued in late 1934 or early 1935. It tells of Dean’s life story with a conclusion of his 1934 season. Given that Dean pitched for several more years after that, we can almost certainly date it to that limited timeframe with no mention of his later years.

It’s a simple booklet with one sheet of a paper. One side is the front and back cover and the other side is the inside, which focuses on Dean’s life and career.

If you’ve never seen this booklet, that makes good sense. Despite looking for more examples, I’ve only ever seen one other one (this one, currently for sale on eBay).

Recently, I received an email from a collector named Roger Krafve. Krafve is the first person I’ve ever heard from with any knowledge of the booklet or the helmet.

Hearing from another collector about the booklet would have been one thing. But he actually was emailing about the helmet itself, which was even better to me because I’d never seen evidence of one even existing.

Roger purchased the helmet shown here. While I would assume others to exist, simply put, this is the only one I have ever seen.

The outside is not a true giveaway that it is a match to the one described in my booklet. However, it’s the interior that almost certainly links the two. Given that, it is hard to imagine it is anything other than the helmet described in the booklet.

As shown here, the inside includes a replica signature from Dean. This one in particular is a size medium.

According to Krafve, the helmet was purchased from a woman in Minnesota. It was found in the attic of an old house that was sold to the woman’s friend.

A further link to Dean and the style of hat is also seen in at least one photograph celebrating the World Series. This image from a Reddit post appears to show Dean wearing a pith helmet in the Cardinals’ parade after winning the 1934 World Series.

How, why, or even when the Dizzy Dean model helmets were created is not something I’ve tracked down yet. But given they were seemingly issued after the 1934 World Series (as indicated by the booklet’s mention of the World Series already past), it’s possible that Dean was wearing that style of hat to promote his own brand that would come afterwards.

Regardless of the mysteries that still surround the helmet and the booklet, though, it’s always great to track down the actual products that were advertised in paper products from so long ago.

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