Joe Gunson

Joseph Brook Gunson (March 23, 1863 – November 15, 1942) was a Major League Baseball catcher between 1884 and 1893.

Biography
Born in Philadelphia, Gunson played for the Cleveland Spiders, Washington Nationals, Kansas City Cowboys, Baltimore Orioles, and St. Louis Browns from 1884 to 1893. He is sometimes credited with creating the first catcher's mitt when he was trying to play through an 1888 finger injury. Though Gunson was young and did not need the money, Jim Manning was going to help him patent it once Manning returned from a summer baseball tour. Gunson said that he told some other players about the glove and that many other players began using such a mitt before Manning came home.

Gunson died at his Philadelphia home in 1942.