louisville slugger miniature replica bats--vintage or not??

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Posted By: kg

in the last couple months i've purchased two louisville slugger mini replica ted williams bats on ebay (well, technically they were purchased off-ebay in deals made with two different sellers after the auctions ended without getting any bids); i bought the first one purely by accident as the seller neglected to mention that it was a mini-bat (he didnt mention how long it was), and in the scan of the bat in the auction listing, he had the bat resting on what looked like a king-sized bed pillow (but it was probably only a kleenex or a mini-pillow)--needless to say, as soon as i received the package (ie mailing tube) that he shipped it in, which was no bigger than a roll of paper towels, i knew i had been duped. the only reason i bought this is because i thought it was a full-sized bat, and i partially blame myself for not asking him how long it was (or if it was a mini-bat) prior to making the deal with him. (i usually do my research and have a keen eye for detail but he did a good job of "mastro-ing up" his ebay listing--ie, he said it was from the 50's and that the last one on ebay sold for $100--dont worry, i got it for less than half of that but still feel that i grossly overpaid).





that being said, if i knew it was a mini-bat, i wouldnt have bought it as i dont collect them. i dont know much about bats as i am primarily a vintage card collector who prior to buying that bat bought a nice full-sized sears and roebuck ted williams model from someone on the BST boards here and thought it would be cool to have a louisville slugger ted williams model too to complement that one. i emailed the mini-bat seller almost a month ago and told him i want to return this to him for a refund as he technically misrepresented the item and i have no use for it (even though it is kind of neat)--i havent heard back from him yet but plan on contacting him again in the next couple of days (or as soon as i hear what u guys think). however, a couple weeks ago i found another seller selling one much, much cheaper than i bought the first one for, and as i have a tendency to do, i made a deal for that one since it was only $13 delivered and also i figured i'd feel better about overpaying for the first one should the first guy not take it back. (so now i have two of them after not even wanting one of them--go figure!!)





both bats measure about 16 inches in length and are slightly different--the h&b branding as well as ted's facsimile autograph are slightly different on both of them. (i figure that this is probably the result of them being manufactured at different times and at different factories). one is actually about 16" and the other is just slightly longer at around 16-1/4". i have subsequently seen newer, more recently produced versions of them on ebay that are longer (about 18") and i went on louisville slugger's website where they are selling mini-bats that are 18" long. both of the ones i have look very old (the wood is very dark and they look indeed more vintage than the very light, almost blond colored ones that LS is selling)--i guess my question is, approximately how much are the two supposedly "vintage" ones i have worth--and also, when was the last time that LS produced a ted williams one?? (they dont currently have a williams one on their website). or more importantly, when did they first manufacture these bats?? as i already said, the first seller said it was from the 50's (which i think is a stretch because this doesnt seem like the type of collectible they wouldve made back then) and the second seller said it was from the 60's, which sounds more realistic, but did LS make these types of souvenir bats back in those days?? thanks in advance for any help and sorry for yet another longwinded post!! (and happy new year to all!!)