Hanna Baseball Bats Made Between 1930 and 1936 and the H&B

[MEARSAUCTIONS]

Thanks for sharing the detailed version of the court transcripts. They should aid in enlightening the collecting community about the Hanna Batrite court case. With respect to the Babe Ruth bat offered in the MEARS auction, there is one major distinction which is not adressed in the court transcripts and must be attributed to the manufacturing process and possible response to the ongoing litigation.

Lack of "Georgia/Beaver Driver, TA stamp on barrel. All of the known store model Batrite bats were found with the additional barrel stampings, Georgia/Beaver Driver, TA on the barrel. All of the player name only barrel stampings are consistent with player ordered / professional model only game bats. This have been photographically documented.

All of the surviving photos show players with name only on the barrel without the Beaver Driver marks. This is a rare example of the player name being combined with the word "type" and may have been done at the factory in response to the on going litigation.

Regards,


Troy R. Kinunen / MEARS
troy@mearsonline.com

[murphusa]

Troy

Started my research long before I got your email this morning in reference to the Ruth Bat. My post just happens to coincide with it and by no means is it an address to your auction. My post in my opinion using court records as a basis and was started in reference to another bat on this site from a few months ago.

The "idea" of using Type or Style wasn't addressed until the Appeals Court Judges submitted their findings in September 1935.

The original case had more to do with the center label and the fact that it was oval and could cause a buyer to make a purchase thinking it was an H&B. The name at the end of the bat was used as more proof of similarity

The case was about store bats and not pro bats

[bat_master]

Here's a good example of the "name only on barrel" pro bats that Troy mentions.

[murphusa]

What year would you date this?

[bat_master]

I was figuring 1926-29/30.

[murphusa]

Thanks.