Bat help

[Oldetymebaseball]

I recently got some valuable information from Mike H about the bats, but I was going to put it up on the board to see if I could get any more history. Here is the information from the email:

I picked up 4 Louisville Slugger bats (Ed Matthews, Mickey Mantle, Joe Di Maggio, and MAYS (I'm assuming willie)). All are branded with the signatures and not foil stamped. The MAYS is the only one that isn't script. The model numbers on the knobs are:
Dimaggio D29, MAYS F4, Mantle K55, and Matthews S2.
The lengths are:
Dimaggio: 34 1/2"
MAYS: 32 1/2"
Mantle: 33 1/2"
Matthews: 33 1/2"

All are in great shape, but have a college name branded on them. 3 say Whittier college and the other says Univ of Redlands (my alma mater). I'm assuming these were from those particular colleges to use. So, are these store model bats?

The registered trade marks:3 have the "R" following the slugger's R. The MAYS has the REG US PAT OFF under the center label.
Any idea on value? History?

Any info you can provide would be great!

[MGHProductions]

Hi,
The bats are pro model bats made for colleges. The Dimaggio was made after his retirement. The Mays is certainly the rarest. As far as values, Dimaggio and Mantle you could get 100 each on most days, Mathews, maybe 50 or so, and Mays, probably 100 to 150 assuming they are in nice condition. If you are interested in selling any of them let me know. Thanks
Matt
Bub13@aol.com

[MSpecht]

Here is some information about the bats, some of which may be redundant to the info you have already received.

First, the presence of Whittier College and Univ. of Redlands, in conjunction with the model numbers on the knobs of the bats, does, as you note, indicate that the bats were manufactured for use by the baseball teams of those specific colleges. They are neither store model / retail bats, nor were they manufactured for Major League professional use. They fall somewhere in-between, subjective to the collector. As far as value, there is not a significant value attached to these bats, unless the bat A) in some manner reflected a relationship between the player and the college (i.e. - a Lou Gehrig bat from Columbia University) or, to a lesser degree, B) the bat conforms to model, length, and weight documented to have been used by the player during his playing career.

Here is the information specific to the history of these individual bats:

Joe DiMaggio: Model D29 was first designed to DiMaggio's specifications on 6/10/1939, and lated modified with a larger (Ruth) knob, becoming model D29L. This bat at 34.5 inches is shorter than the shortest bat documented in DiMaggio's records (35 inches) for his professional use. Model D29 is one of two DiMaggio pro stock models, meaning that when colleges ordered an assortment of popular models from H & B, the company would brand the names of the most famous/popular players with whom they had an endorsement contract -- D29 and D29L (as well as Y4) would be frequently branded with DiMaggio's name. From your description of the labeling, but not having seen a photograph, it appears that this bat was likely manufactured either between 1965 and 1972 (if there is no registration mark to the left of the "d" in Powerized) or between 1973-1975 (if there is a registration mark to the left of the "d" in Powerized.

Eddie Mathews: Model S2 was first designed to Vern Stephen's specifications on 8/25/1943. This bat at 33.5 inches is shorter than the shortest bat documented in Mathews' records (34 inches) for his professional use. Due to his frequent use of this model, model S2 is Mathews' pro stock model, meaning that when colleges ordered an assortment of popular models from H & B, the company would brand the names of the most famous/popular players with whom they had an endorsement contract -- S2 was frequently branded with Mathews' name. From your description of the labeling, but not having seen a photograph, it appears that this bat was likely manufactured either between 1965 - 1972 (if there is no registration mark to the left of the "d" in Powerized) or between 1973-1975 (if there is a registration mark to the left of the "d" in Powerized.

Mickey Mantle: Model K55 was first designed to Chuck Klein's specifications on 4/30/1935. This bat at 33.5 inches is shorter than the shortest bat documented in Mantle's records (34 inches) for his professional use. Due to his frequent use of this model early in his career, model K55 is Mantle's pro stock model, meaning that when colleges ordered an assortment of popular models from H & B, the company would brand the names of the most famous/popular players with whom they had an endorsement contract -- K55 was frequently branded with Mantle's name. From your description of the labeling, but not having seen a photograph, it appears that this bat was likely manufactured either between 1965 - 1972 (if there is no registration mark to the left of the "d" in Powerized) or between 1973-1975 (if there is a registration mark to the left of the "d" in Powerized.

Willie Mays: Model F4 is most commonly identified with George Kell --- Kell ordered a bat modeled for Skeeter Webb, and on 7/17/1946 was shipped model F4. Willie Mays' first six orders of
H & B bats, from 4/13/1951 through 2/3/1954 were for model F4 bats. He never ordered that model again during his career. This bat at 32.5 inches is shorter than the shortest bat documented in Mays' records (34 inches) for his professional use. The use of Mays' name on this bat manufactured for college use is somewhat unusual as Mays never had an endorsement contract with H & B, thus his name is in block letters rather than fascimile script. The use of his name associated with model F4 would be due to his use of this model early in his career. From your description of the labeling, but not having seen a photograph, it appears that this bat was likely manufactured either between 1950 and 1960 ( if the " & " in Hillerich & Bradsby is positioned between the 1 and 2 in 125) or between 1961and 1964 (if the " & " is positioned directly beneath the "2" in 125.)

Good Luck in future collecting.

Mike Jackitout7@aol.com (Jackitout7@aol.com)