Wilson Sporting Goods

Wilson Sporting Goods is one of the largest manufacturers of sporting equipment in the world. In baseball, it is known as one of the leading manufacturers of gloves used by professionals and players at every level. On March 23, 2015, it became an even more important player in the game when it acquired the iconic Louisville Slugger brand of baseball bats from Hillerich & Bradsby, who had owned the brand for 130 years.

Wilson is an offshoot of a New York, NY-based meatpacking company that decided to get into a side business of manufacturing various objects from by-products of its main activity, including strings for tennis rackets. In 1915, the side business was renamed the Thomas E. Wilson company, after its president at the time and expanded its line of sporting equipment. It later acquired the "Chicago Sporting Goods Company", moved its headquarters to Chicago, IL, and landed a contract to supply the uniforms for the Chicago Cubs around 1920. In 1922, it distributed a catcher's glove, designed by Chicago White Sox Hall of Fame catcher Ray Schalk, from which it eventually became a leader in the field of manufacturing gloves. However, its main lines of products were linked to football and golf for many years. It also manufactured basketball and tennis equipment.

In baseball, in addition to gloves, Wilson became the major supplier of uniforms to major league teams in the 1960s.

In 1989, the company became a subsidiary of the Finnish group Amer Sports, although it maintained its "Wilson" brand of sporting goods, given the strong name recognition associated with its product line. The name gained even more visibility in 2000, when a volleyball manufactured by the company "co-starred" with actor Tom Hanks in the hit film Castaway. Hanks addressed the anthropomorphized ball as "Wilson" throughout the film.

Further Reading

• Grace Schneider: "Louisville Slugger brand sold to Wilson for $70M", USA Today, March 23, 2015. [1]

Related Sites

• Official company web site