"Falls City Slugger", predecessor to "Louisville Slugger"

[ksfarmboy]

That's just an H not a J and G.

[hcv123]

Originally Posted by ksfarmboy

That's just an H not a J and G.

+1

[WWGjohn]

Obviously didn't have enough coffee this morning :-)

John

[khkco4bls]

obviously is an H..

[Joe_G.]

Thank you John and others for bumping the thread, keeping it alive, but I believe the Crackerjack bats post-date the "Falls City Slugger" by a long shot. Does anyone have a guess on the date for the posted Crackerjack bat? Thanks in advance.

[WWGjohn]

The two bats posted would predate the J F Hillerich & Son label which began in 1897. Exactly how much they predate it, I'm not sure.

John

[Huysmans]

Originally Posted by WWGjohn

The two bats posted would predate the J F Hillerich & Son label which began in 1897. Exactly how much they predate it, I'm not sure.

John

Hey John, they were using the J F Hillerich & Son center brand before 1897. As Joe has mentioned, as early as 1894.
In the Players of Cooperstown book, they picture a JFH & Son bat and mention that it was used by Hugh Duffy in 1894.

[murphusa]

When Bud went to work for his fathers company he was also playing on one of the towns team and he made his own bats and those of the team. Those bats carried the Falls City logo. This is the period from 1880 to early 1884 when it was changed to his fathers companies name. This continued to 1887 when he made his son (Bud) a partner

The first pro bat was made in mid 1884 for Browning and these bat carried the fathers business name. As Browning was know as the Louisville Slugger, Bud adopted the name for his bats latter in the year

First endorser was Wagner in 1905

[khkco4bls]

by the way what are the patented bat worth with the patent numbers on the end

[WWGjohn]

Brent,

Any idea about the time period when just the name Hillerich would have been used in the logo.

John

[murphusa]

Originally Posted by Huysmans

Hey John, they were using the J F Hillerich & Son center brand before 1897. As Joe has mentioned, as early as 1894.
In the Players of Cooperstown book, they picture a JFH & Son bat and mention that it was used by Hugh Duffy in 1894.

the company was not JFH and Son until 1887 so the Duffy bat is not 1884

BTW Duffy played in the Eastern League (minor League) starting in 1886 and made the majors in 1888


The father was not very interested in the bat business until Bud proved to him it would be worthwhile. So his name was not on any bats until late in 1884/early 1885.

Falls City 1880 to 1884 were only used by players of Buds teams and league to find one is really tough
Hillerich 1884/85 to 1896 (1884/85 Louisville Slugger first used on some pro model bats) (Crackerjack was the Youth model until 1915)
J F Hillerich and Son 1897 to 1916
Hillerich and Bradsby 1916 on

[khkco4bls]

Here's my reverse label model I think 1897. Reverse meaning knob faces to the right.Correct me if I'm wrong . Vintage nails due to checking of wood grain.