Major League Baseball Championship Black Bats
 

I recently picked up a 1948 Cleveland Indians Black Bat
And while trying to research it I couldn't find much history on any of them.
Does anyone know of a site or a link to where all info is listed about these bats?
They seem to come up often of all the different teams.
Looks like they were issued to players and VIPs.
Any help on this is appreciated. Not just on my Indians bat but in any of them in general.
I couldn't find anything on he forums either but I might have missed it.
Thanks Andy

I would be interested in knowing more, as well. I have Giants from 1962 and 1989. I have always heard they were given to "players and VIPs" but have never heard any hard numbers.

I think they started in 1938 as brown bats and then in 39 or 1940 turned out the black bats that's what I know. I have a 1938 All Star National League brown bat and a 39 All Star National League Black Bat

.....and, given that I have seen nothing from LS commemorating the Giants' recent successes, I don't believe they are made anymore.

Not pretending to be an expert, but my impression has always been that they were given to players and other employees of the teams.

The 1st bat was issued in 1934 to the Detroit Tigers and is rare. It is brown, but called a black bat. I have some more information, but I will have to dig it out.

Joe

I'd love to hear some numbers...

Here's my 1938 and 39 All Star National League bats

The credit for the following information goes to: David Bushing with input from Zane Burns and Lou Pasqual of Dot and Lou's. The information is from the December 29, 1995 Sports Collector's Digest that David Bushing wrote.
You may be able to find a copy of this SCD with some work.

No factory record of Production numbers for these bats.
Estimated numbers pre - 1940 less than 100 bats per year.

after 1940 around 200.

1934 was the 1st year for Detroit Tigers

1934 & 1935 bats may have been given to those players with H & B Contracts.

Bats were shipped to players, staff, scouts, front office personnel & local radio announcers.

In 1944 no bats were produced because of WWII

In 1994 no bats were produced because of the baseball strike.

Prior to 1938 the bats were brown in color.

The facsimile signatures were always done in gold, although the shade of gold differed from one year to the next and often appears to be almost silver on some early bats. In 1939, the Championship description begins appearing in green, but some examples exist using just gold. In addition , it seems that the manager's names begin to appear in green in 1954 or 1955, but not always.

The 1934 Detroit bat was an H & B model 40, but not a specific player, whereas the 1935 bats were both player model 40s. The 1935 Detroit bat was a Mickey Cochrane model 40 Mg, while the super rare 1935 Cubs National League Champions bat was a Lefty Grimm Model 40LG bearing only 13 signatures.

The 1st bat to leave the H & B factory was in 1934 after the Detroit Tigers won the American League Pennant. There are fewer than a dozen known and were dark brown in color and have 25 signatures. No example of the 1934 Cardinals bat has ever surfaced and it is generally believed that the Detroit bat was ordered for the players that season therefore putting the idea into the minds of the Louisville slugger Executives a means of advertising.

Not responsible for any errors in this information.

Joe

Prior to 39 the bats were brown.see bats above.

Those are All Star bats, right? Not World Series Black bats?

I will say the All Star bats are really tough to find.

Joe

Yes both are all Star bats National League and there in primo condition. Any idea what these would go for I'd appreciate any help

I don't have any idea of price on the All-Star bats. I will quote from the SCD article that Dave Bushing wrote.

"Any of the All-Star Bats, whether from the 1930's or the 1970's, are almost impossible and my advice is to grab them when you can. Pricing is impossible since there exists very little in the way of a track record of previous sales."

This article was from 1995, so there might be a record of sales since then. You might check with auction houses to see if they have sold any in the last 20 years.

Good Luck

Joe

Thanks Joe..

Here are some pics of my 1948 Indians bat i picked up...
Andy

Reviving an old thread -- here are a few black bats featuring future major league stars as teenagers -- Frank Robinson and Bill Freehan.

The 1954 Little League championship bat includes two future big leaguers -- Jim Barbieri and Billy Connors.

You can see that Hanna Batrite also made black team bats.


Greg