Jimmie Foxx Hanna Batrite Baseball Bat Circ 1930

[Dave Grob]

I am a contrarian with respect to these Hanna TA bats as being gamers. This is in part to a looking at the legal case brought by H&B against Hanna as well as bats at the HOF that came from player estates (Gehrig, winged bat center brand) that featured his name GEHRIG stamped on the barrel. Ordering records from Hanna from 1936 indicate that the bats made for the players themselves as part of personal orders would have born their actual names stamped in block letters. These records can be found in Hanna Bat file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Cooperstown, NY.

This would have been allowed by the proceedings of the court case since these stampings where for personal identification on the part of the player, and NOT tied to and other commercial effort. I believe that these “TA” bats are the Hanna equivalent of pro model bats that could have been ordered by major league clubs as “Pro Stock” for use by any player. This would be consistent with the court judgment, explain why they can be seen in period photos, and would be consistent with the branding instructions (post H&B case).

Dave Grob

[Dave Grob]

Additional contemporary information. Notice the language about requesting that the player the bats are ordered for be put on the bats, no matter what model they are.

Dave Grob

[Dave Grob]

According to information from the H&B v Hanna court case, Hanna did not start manufacturing bats until 1927. Here is the 1930 Hanna bat catalog. Notice they have these TA bats for both Sam Crawford and Joe Jackson. Both had left the game prior to 1927 so Hanna could not have made bats for them during their playing days. Yet they have TA models.

Dave Grob

[murphusa]

Think about it..

Gehrig orders 3 bats from the company as per the letter and has testified that he used them on occasion. Not a big endorsement for the bats.

There are only 20 to 30 Gehrig game used bats in the hobby according to some sources.

Over 20 people on different websites and forums claim they have a Gehrig Hanna Batrite game used bat

.

[Dave Grob]

If lathe marks on the end of Hanna bat is supposed to indicate it was hand turned and that these hand turned bats are signs or indications it was made for a major league player, then someone please tell me what major league player used this 26 1/2" "hand turned Hanna bat."

Dave Grob

[vintagesportscollector]

this may be a dumb question and showing my ignorance, but isn't every bat made turned on a lathe? how is a bat made if not on a lathe?

[steve B]

Originally Posted by vintagesportscollector

this may be a dumb question and showing my ignorance, but isn't every bat made turned on a lathe? how is a bat made if not on a lathe?

They would all be made on lathes, at least any produced in any quantity.

What's different is how they're handled on the lathe, and/or what sort of lathe would be used.
Most produced in large quantity are done on automatic lathes, from blanks that are about the right length, so the raw bat has projections on either end that need to be removed.
That can be done with manual turning, but it's also possible to cut the blank the exact length wanted and then turn it leaving no extra bits that need to be removed later.

I'd think that the hand turned kids bat was either from cutting costs by using blanks that were cut to a length then turned, eliminating an extra step in production maybe reducing cost.
Or done before they had a copy lathe or when it wasn't available, like during repair or a pre-season rush in production.

It may also be possible it was turned from a cut down pro bat that had something wrong with it. If the turning tool catches in a bad bit of wood it can take a chunk out of the piece you're turning. If it happened near the end of the barrel cutting it down and making a smaller bat might have been done during a slow period.
That makes a lot more sense during the early 30's than it would now.

Steve B

[MGHPro]

Dave
Great info ! Thanks for sharing .

Originally Posted by Dave Grob

If lathe marks on the end of Hanna bat is supposed to indicate it was hand turned and that these hand turned bats are signs or indications it was made for a major league player, then someone please tell me what major league player used this 26 1/2" "hand turned Hanna bat."

Dave Grob