Ebay Pete Rose GU Bat?

**Dewey2007** · 02-07-2016, 11:58 AM

Re: Ebay Pete Rose GU Bat?

For what it's worth I once had a '80-83 block letter LVS Dale Murphy bat that he handed to me right out of the bat rack at Candlestick Park that Vince Malta could find no order record for so anything is possible. Hopefully Mike S. can chime in eventually with his thoughts.

**Stanley** · 02-07-2016, 01:59 PM

Re: Ebay Pete Rose GU Bat?

"Countdown To Cobb: My Diary of the Record-Breaking 1985 Season" by Pete Rose

"When I went to Japan in the fall of 1980 to sign a deal with the Mizuno Corp. to use its bats,"

**MSpecht** · 02-13-2016, 03:50 AM

Re: Ebay Pete Rose GU Bat?

A review of Pete Rose's personal bat order records from Hillerich & Bradsby documents that bats were manufactured for the personal professional use of Pete Rose during what is generally known as the 1980 - 1983 /1983-1985 label period. In Rose's records, The orders are dated 10/9/1981 to 5/15/1985. Note also that there is a six month gap in Rose's records between 4/1/1981 and 10/9/1981. That gap is due to H & B eliminating its old method of handwritten order cards and instituting a computerized method.

This discussion centers around a baseball bat manufactured by H & B for Pete Rose. The player's name on the barrel brand is Rose, branded as ROSE. The question is whether the referenced player is Pete Rose, or someone else. The oddity is that Pete Rose is known to have been a H & B contract player and the expectation would be that his name would appear as a facsimile . Here is some background information:

Pete Rose was first signed to a contract by H & B on 6/9/1961. His first order of two bats with his facsimile signature was model K55. Rose remained a H & B contract player into the early 1980's. At that time Rose had a contract dispute with H & B and was being courted by Mizuno to use the Japanese company's equipment, including bats, for what was termed "an extremely large amount of money. " Lawsuits were filed and ultimately an out-of-Court settlement was reached which allowed H & B to continue using Rose's signature.

During that period of time, H & B manufactured Pete's bats with both a facsimile signature and also bats with his name in block letters. His records document 21 orders of signature model bats ( 127 bats) and 7 orders of bats ( 21 bats) with block letters during this period. Four orders of block letter bats are documented to match the bat under discussion as follows:

9-7-82 / R211 / 34.5 inches / 32 ounces / Wax Finish / 12 bats

9-30-82 / R211 / 34.5 / 32 / Wax / 12

11-2-82 / R211 / 34.5 / Wax / Natural / 1

9-6-83 / R211 / 34.5 / None / 12

Ultimately, the manufacture and use of block letter bats during the 1980 - 1985 label period is documented in Pete Rose's H & B bat order records. Of interest also is Rose's use of H & B model R211 throughout this period of his career. Rose's first used model R211 after he specified H & B to replicate an Adirondack model 129A on 8/16/1979. He used the model consistently during the early - mid 1980's.

Mike Jackitout7@aol.com