Ty Cobb L/S (C 4) Stamped 125 Baseball Bat Question?
 

Thanks to all!

Tom,
Great bat, it's a shame the knob is cut off. C4 would most likely be a vault mark from the factory. What it represents, I don't know. It's not a common bat. 125's are tough to find, but with the knob cut off, we'll never know if it is a pro model or a store model. What is the length?
Matt
Bub13@aol.com

Tom, that's a nice bat. Can you give us the length and weight? It appears to be a pro model but the handle could have been cut down to hide the length and number stamped on the bottom. The C4 appears to be added at a later date. The knob being cut down really hurts the value in my opinion but it could still fetch a nice sum.

Clint

Thanks to all

Can you post a full length picture of the bat?
Thanks
Matt

Thanks to all!

If the bat currently measures 33", then in my opinion, its too short to be a gamer. It doesn't look like 1 1/2 inches is cut off since it appears it starts to flare out to the knob which would only add a 1/2 inch or so. Certainly a great looking bat tho.

Did you get any other bats from the guy?
Matt

This collector has alot of vintage stuff to sell.Many old gloves (I will check them out next visit) He was busy going thru 40 or so boxes of sports collectables. He's wanting to sell it all, he remarked we can't take it with us, which is very true!

Would love to hear what kind of gloves you find in those boxes! Keep us posted! :D

As far as value, its tough. The 35 inch 125 Cobb I just bought, I paid 800 for. If yours had a knob, we would know if it was pro model or store model. I would say value is maybe 500 with the strong markings. Hopefully some others will chime in.
Thanks
Matt

Thanks for all.

Ok seems a good place to ask, what is the difference between a pro model and store model bat. Obviously I know the store models were to be sold at stores, but how do you know what is what and how to value a given bat? I am interested to learn more about bats but have no clue where to start.
For instantance the Joe Jackson Bat is REA, seemed to be in a gray area..

James G

Louisville Slugger has good Q & A that explains the different H & B logo's, etc. that help date their bats.
The experts examine the logo, length, weight + providence,barrell markings,etc. to ID a Game Used bat.
Store Model bats length are usually stamped on the end and weigh less. Example: A L/S Mantle store model bat are stamped MM4 for 34 inches, MM5 for 35 inches and so on..
Example:L/S 125 Cobb game used bats were anywhere between 34.25 to 34 1/2 inches in length
I believe L/S stamped the length's on most series 40 Store Model logo, but not sure when they started to stamp Initials + lengths on the 125 Pro models.
I'm no expert by any means, just a rule of thumb for me---

H&B made both store model and pro model (game used) 125 baseball bats. Store model 125 bats will be stamped with inch marks on the knob, for example a 35 inch long bat will be stamped 35". A pro model of that era will feature a hand turned knob with no inch marks. At the same time, they made bats with a lower grade ash that were designated as the 40 series. Cobb would be 40TC, Ruth 40BR, Gehrig 40 LG etc. All of these bats can be found in lengths from 32 to 36 inches. Pro model bats often fall on the 1/2 inch measurement.

Later 125 bats, in the 50's 60's and so on, started to be marked in foil. For example, Mantle 125 powerized bats would have MM4, MM3 etc on the knob, meaning MM for Mickey Mantle and 3 or 4 for the length 33, 34. The foil marked bats of that era were store models. A Mantle gamer of that era would have burned in markings and a model number on the knob such as K55.

I'll post some pictures later to help show the difference.
Matt