[jcmtiger]

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