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Posted By: John Harrell

Dan,

The oldest verifiable bats would be presentation type bats on which would be inscribed the date. All early bats were hand made in some way and almost never were dated. Bat companies, per se, did not exist until the 1870's, although many woodworking businesses made bats, along with ax handles, pick handles, and other wooden implements. Exact dating, without some type of provenance, is almost impossible. I have numerous bats that I estimate were made from the 1850's to 70's but have no way to date them exactly.

Along this line, I have 3 town ball bats. Two of them have the letters PPR inscribed on the base of the knob. The other has the letters BRC in a circle imprinted in the barrel. These inscriptions were stamped in, not hand carved. Anyone have an idea about what they might stand for?

John