Local resident, Gold Glove creator remembered for community service
As a marketing guru for baseball glove manufacturer Rawlings, Elmer Blasco wanted something to rival the Louisville Silver Bat award so in 1957 he invented what is still regarded as the highest award for a Major League Baseball fielder: the Gold Glove.
"I felt that since we represented defense with our gloves we should do something to honor the best in that area," Mr. Blasco, a 50-year resident of Mount Prospect, told the Daily Herald in 1981. "And what better way than with a glove, a golden glove at that."
Blasco used shoe leather with a gold metallic finish that was meant for ladies' ballet slippers to make that first award, daughter Jean Blasco said.
Mr. Blasco, who died last Friday of natural causes at age 87, won a spot in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., and his own Gold Glove for his invention.
While the Mr. Blasco joked that it never won him a raise from Rawlings, the Gold Glove remains a coveted award that baseball players use to leverage their multimillion salaries.
His son, Mark, said his father also conceived of the idea to use only those Rawlings baseballs that came from a sealed box for major league play. "My father created what became a baseball standard," Mark Blasco said. "At the time it was very common for pitchers to throw out to the umpire (baseballs) that would be doctored in some way to affect the pitching."
Mr. Blasco also had a deep commitment to community. In 2001, he earned a Shining Star "living legend" award from Mount Prospect for his dedication to the community. He served as a president and board member on the village's park board.
Mr. Blasco, a World War II veteran, worked tirelessly with a group of veterans to raise money to get the Veterans Memorial Bandshell built at Lions Park and to create the plaques to honor veterans at the memorial.
In 1972, he was instrumental in getting the first dugouts built at Prospect High School.
"So it's all these little things," Mark Blasco said. "When you look around Mount Prospect, you see my dad."
Bob Frisk, a Daily Herald columnist who wrote about Mr. Blasco, remembered him Monday. "He was just an energetic, enjoyable man," Frisk said. "He really had a youthful spirit about him. He was very proud of that Gold Glove."
Mr. Blasco spent time as director of publicity for the National Sporting Goods Association before taking over as publisher for Athletic Journal.
Mr. Blasco graduated from the University of Illinois School of Journalism in 1943. After graduation, he joined the Army and served as a captain in the 29th Infantry Division during World War II.
As they were on the outskirts of Berlin, he ran across a message in German and had it translated; It reported the death of Adolf Hitler, and Mr. Blasco is credited with the first Western report of the Nazi leader's death in 1945.
Survivors include his wife, Dolores, with whom he would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in October; daughters Trudi Thalmann, Terri Wood and Jean Blasco; and son Mark Blasco.
Visitation is 4 to 9 p.m. Monday, and from 10 to 11 a.m. Tuesday at Friedrichs Funeral Home, 320 W. Central Road, Mount Prospect. Mass will be celebrated at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at St. Raymond de Penafort Church, 301 S. I-Oka.