Frankie Frisch Bat
 

Alright I need some help from the bat experts. I have a Frankie Frisch bat and on the knob there's a little "R" stamped into it. I've seen a similar mark on a Eddie Collins bat that sold in a Mears auction years ago. So my question is, is this a factory stamp or is it stamped by somebody else? Thank you for any information.

-Ron

Can you show the factory stampings on barrel of the bat?

Here's the barrel.

Center Brand label may give more information. I am not a true bat expert but with the center brand can maybe give you a good idea if it is a professional model or retail model bat.

unless the R is part of a model number "R36" as an example, then it could be a factory reject as H&B placed R's on the knob of bats that did not meet quality control at final inspection

Sounds like a reasonable explanation but likely means it was never used by Frisch even if a professional model. Post a picture of the center brand and at least we can determine if it is indeed a professional game model bat even if it was a reject. It would still have decent value.

It's a 40K model and will post a pic when I get home.

OK. Thanks

The 40K would represent a cork grip on the bat. It could be retail or professional as far as I know. Frisch was known to use the cork grip bat during his career. The center brand label will give more info.

Here's the center brand.

Does the bat have any residue of the cork on the handle?

Does it have the Kork Grip Patented date Sept. 16, 1914 imprinted on the bat near the center brand?

There's nothing left on the handle.

Again, I am certainly not a bat expert so hopefully some of the members here who are will post their opinions of the bat but it certainly appears to me to be a professional model Kork bat and Frisch was known to use them.

However, the "R" on the knob may indeed indicate that it was rejected by the factory so he may have never handled it.

The bat expert, John Taube, with PSA/DNA could likely determine the legitimacy of the bat but his fees are not cheap and if not used by Frisch would likely not be worth the fee.

I doubt if it was used by Frisch due to the "R" on the knob but that is just an educated guess.

Hopefully, others will opine on the bat.

Thank you Randy for your input on this. Hopefully somebody knows something or has another example of a similar stamping. I don't think I will send it in to John because it is pretty pricey. Here is a link of the Eddie Collins bat that has a similar stamping on it.

https://www.mearsonlineauctions.com/...lot148466.aspx

Obviously, Troy did not know what those two letters that were stamped into the knob and barrel by the factory were for on the Collins bat but it was definitely a professional model bat and the 40K is not necessarily.

Looks like the PSA/DNA fee for Frisch is $495 but if game used it is worth $5K or so based on their price guide and I expect a highly graded one would be significantly more.

Personally, I wouldn't worry much about the R on the knob. I don't think H&B was kicking bats to the side a whole lot as rejects since bats were all hand turned and weights had to be specific. I'd imagine that any bats that weren't up to the liking of the player would have been give away for use by other players. H&B just wasn't turning out nearly the number of bats that they do present day and this is further confirmed by looking at the ordering records of players during the 1920s.

To note, the Eddie Collins bat appears to be two letters RB or RE and so the two really are unrelated.

Since this Frisch bat lacks inch marks on the knob I believe it would likely be evaluated as a professional model bat. The R on the knob could have been put there by a previous owner at any time during the last hundred or so years since the bat was turned. Certainly not a complete deal breaker in terms of professional issuance.

As an unrelated example, I have a set of my great grandfather's tools from the early 1900s. Several of these are stamped with his initials, CEB. I also was fortunate to have located the metal letter stamps that were used to do the stamping. Certainly wouldn't be unusual for a previous owner to have done the same thing at some point.

A very interesting bat. Do you know the length and weight?

Mark, the bat is 34 inches long and not sure about the weight.