Per forum policy, I already exchanged email with Mike Heffner of Lelands before posting this for your info. He agreed to look into it and adjust the description if appropriate. Quick and responsible action by Lelands so far.

The description of this Williams bat likely needs some correction:
http://www.lelands.com/Auction/AuctionDetail/66731

It is titled as a "1960 Game Used" Ted Williams bat. If you look at the centerbrand and compare to the excellent Vince Malta reference book, it looks like a C-16, made from 1961 to 1964. The "Trademark Reg" text below the oval is smaller than the C-15 and the alignment of the "125" is spot on for the C-16. I have never seen a C-15 like this one.

The trouble is that Ted retired after 1960. Further, this bat matches perfectly his post-career orders for 42 W215 bats at 35" and 32 ounces in 1961 when he was a coach for the red sox. I think this is one of those bats. It is still reasonably valuable as such, but to me is unlikely to be game used.

Another interesting set of data comes from the recent REA auction where they sold one of TW's last bats from his last game ( http://bid.robertedwardauctions.com/bidplace.aspx?itemid=19684 ) with pretty good provenance for $20K. It was still a W183, and it seems that this was the last model he really used much in his career.

Given all that, I think this is a post-career Williams bat, and hope they correct the listing so someone does not spent $5-$10K thinking it will authenticate well as a game used player bat.

Am I off base here and missing something? I do not want to mess up this sale, but I think this is a pretty good match.

Matt Miller