Hi Ron,
Terrific flea market find!
Here's a previous post from Mike Specht, who has the bat records:
"M117 batsare among the earliest Gilliam bats shipped. They are fiund only in 1951 (35" / 32 oz.(first signature model) , 1952 (34.5" / 33 oz and 35"/ 32 oz). and 1953 (34.5" / 32 oz);
Gilliam's first ML game was 4/14/53, so any 35 inch M117 would be a Minor League bat (pre-rookie), and a 34.5 inch M117 could be from his last order in 1952 or his first order in 1953....
Interestingly, Gilliam never ordered that model again after early 1953."
If you can post a better photo of the center label, we can try to see if that bat was made in the 1951-53 period.
Greg
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