Team Names on Old Hickory Bats

[rjdgonebats]

Recently obtained a Old Hickory bat of Matt Kemp from Steiner Sports. bat has tremendous use and I assumed it was from 2008 until I got it and under his name on the barrel is LA DODGERS.I was under the assumption that only LV paid the licensing fee for that right from MLB.What year,did that go into effect, I think it was 2005/6 ?? So I then thought maybe it was a left over bat from his rookie year that was finally shipped to Steiner for sale.I then see a old thread here on the forum that someone asked OH about this and they responded that if the team approves they can still do it. Anybody out there have any new info to add to this situation. Any help would be appreciated

[smittyark]

The only OH bat I have with the team name is a 2007 Josh Anderson Astros bat. The rest are blank.

[mbrieve]

Sorry to piggyback, but I just picked up a Max Bat that had the team name under the players name. The seller believed it was from 2009, but wasn't sure.

What is the deal with that? I too was under the impression that only LVS could have the team name...

[cjclong]

Sammy Sosa used a Kenny Lofton Old Hickory to hit home run number 600 when he and Kenny Lofton were both withe the Rangers. Sosa borrowed Lofton's bat when he hit the home run. The bat is in the Rangers museum and has the Los Angeles Dodgers on the barrel. (Go figure that) I emailed the Old Hickory people and was told that the team name can be put on the bat if the team agrees. The Lofton is the only Old Hickory I have seen with a team name on it, but it does exist.

[tigerdale]

I think it can be hard to tell, since so many old stock bats can be used from previous seasons, just like were seeing w/ the maple 2 tone vs solid color. I'm under the understanding, the team name (along w/ the world series labeling) crackdown came on before the 2008 season. I have many different brand bats that have team names on them thru '07......'08 is when I saw that all stop....even a few bat reps had said that too.

[kylehess10]

I also own a 2008 Matt Kemp Old Hickory bat from Steiner. It says "LA DODGERS" under his name. The bat is photomatched and videomatched so I know it's real.

[rjdgonebats]

Kyle and all the members ,thanks for the responses. I feel now that it is most likely also from 2008 and not an earlier bat.I see from the images on getty that he used the natural OH in at least June 2008 do you have other shots from other dates LMk RAY

[kylehess10]

Kyle and all the members ,thanks for the responses. I feel now that it is most likely also from 2008 and not an earlier bat.I see from the images on getty that he used the natural OH in at least June 2008 do you have other shots from other dates LMk RAY

The bat that I have was used from June 3rd through 5th. Here is a picture that I took of Kemp on April 18th, 2008 using another blonde Old Hickory bat. This exact bat in the picture was on eBay a few months ago and I sent the seller this picture which photomatched the bat with the marks on the barrel.

[mbrieve]

Sorry to piggyback, but I just picked up a Max Bat that had the team name under the players name. The seller believed it was from 2009, but wasn't sure.

What is the deal with that? I too was under the impression that only LVS could have the team name...

After doing some additional research, I am fairly certain that my bat is from 2007. If what has been written in this thread is accurate, 2007 is the last year that any bat manufacturer, besides LVS, would have engraved a team name in the bat, correct? I understand there may have been some bats that carried over into the 2008 season, but they would have been manufactured for use in 2007.

[rjdgonebats]

As a follow up to my own question,just got a reply back from the OH Company that my bat was part of a shipment sent on 8-2-07 of 12 bats 6-31oz & 6- 32 oz bats. They could date it that closely because when they have multiweight orders they will stamp the weight on the barrel in addition to the length. This was the only time they did that with a Kemp order,at least in that time frame.They are great people to work with at OH and are at least to me very helpful. I hope this info proves useful. Thanks again for all the replys