Hartland Statue Tag?

[Big Ben]

I was wondering if anyone can give me an opinion about the authenticity of this Hartland Statue tag. I have always liked the Hartland Statues and ended up buying my first statue the other day. I know that the statue is legitimate, but was wondering about the tag.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[whiteymet]

Hi Ben:

YEP! you've got a real one there. The string is one of the best ID's, the originals all have a "twisted" type of string while others of the repro's have a more herring bone type of string or a different color. Most tags come with both red and tan string with the latter released statues only coming in tan or so I have observed.

Also the fadedness and the look of the tag is seen in many of the originals after being exposed to light for many years.

Another telltale sign on SOME originals are little "tit" like "chads" that can appear in up to three places on the outside rim of the tag that came from when the tag was "punched out" of a sheet.

I have other statues, tags and boxes if you are looking for others let me know what you are looking for via a private message.

[Big Ben]

Thank you for your input. Not really in the market at this te but will send you a PM later.

[ChiefBeef]

I have been doing some research and can find good information about the statues, but not about the original vs. reproduction tags. Any thoughts on the tag shown here. And why do you classify it as you may state. Thanks for looking.

[UKCardGuy]

Fred will know better than me, but I don't believe the bat boy ever came with a tag. The bat boy was originally sold as the little leaguer, but Hartland had to pull those because of a copyright issue around the name "little leaguer".

The little leaguer was sold in plastic on card like the one in this photo.

This is the background on the Little Leaguer that I have from a now defunct website hartlands.com

The 5" Bat Boy was originally called the "Little Leaguer". The original bubble pack shipping envelope has it labeled "Little Leaguer". However, the Little League Baseball Association of America complained about using their "name". As a result, 40,000+ statues were destroyed out of the 50,000 made to that point. He was renamed the "Bat Boy", a name still used today.

[whiteymet]

Gary is correct. There was no original 50's/60's Bat Boy tag.

There have been numerous repro tag issues including some for the football set and later statues like the "Dallas" group and Ryan, Di Maggio etc.