My first post back here in years. Hope you have all been well.

I own a few Williams bats and was very excited to see this rookie era bat come up last night at the new MEARS auction: http://sports.mearsonlineauctions.co...OT116093.aspx#

Of course the thing that jumps out here is the odd markings on the knob which MEARS concludes is "a non-readable marking" - not a uniform number and does not figure into the grading. Thus they score it an 8 and reference previous PSA grading without citing the score. Hmmm. This is not a "non-readable marking." It says "OH" or "HO" in big capital letters. Williams was fastidious with his bats and the notion he had a big "OH" on the knob made no sense to me.

I have seen quite a few Williams bats used by teammates, especially in the 1950's - clearly they brought good luck. So I looked at the rosters from 1939-1942 and lo and behold, Ted played with journeyman Odell Hale during the period - a guy who sure could use some luck with the bat. While the bat certainly looks like it was made for Williams, I think it is highly likely that much of the use could be from "OH." Dunno.

What I love about bats is the stories they tell and the research you can do. I am speculating here but would love to hear other opinions.

Matt