I love the stories that unique pieces of memorabilia can bring to my attention.
What we have here is a mid 60’s game used r43 (pee wee Reese model) bat of Art “Pinky” Deras. Art is the pride of Hamtramck Michigan, and is known to some as the greatest little leaguer who ever lived.
Art led his 1959 Michigan team to the little league World Series behind and 18-0 record with 10 no hitters. He struck out 298 batters in 108 innings. He was as good at the plate batting .641 with 33 dingers and 116 rbis!
Pinky was heavily scouted by many teams but ended up signing with the cardinals. The allure of being scouted by Branch Rickey, a game of catch with Stan Musial, and and 80k signing bonus surely made the decision easy…
Deras played 5 years in the minors, but could never quite grasp the talent that he had as a youngster. Could have been a case of too much too soon, but I believe it was meant to be. Deras went on to to protect and serve has community as a police officer for just under 3 decades…
Shared a few links on his story below:
Enjoy!
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/570...s-pinky-deras/
https://www.polishsportshof.com/port...age/art-deras/