Kren bats - retail vs. game used

[KrenBats]

Mark, thanks for the post. Here are the Kren bats that I have and am confident are game used. They are all Kren's Special models and only the Glossop is a "Hand Turned" model. I will work on getting pictures over the weekend:

Curtis Walker (Walker in block letters, side writing)
Rabbit Warstler (H. Warstler in block letters, side writing)
Frank Gilhooley (Gilhooley in block letters, H&B shipping label and side writing)
Jimmy Walsh (JW stamped on knob, side writing Dick Porter, Baltimore BC)
Harry Topel (H. Topel in block letters and side writing)
Ben Bedford (Bedford in block letters w/side writing)
Larry Boerner (L Boerner in block letters with side writing)
Eddie Gallagher (E. Gallagher in block letter and H&B mailing label)
Hank Sauer (Sauer in block letter, 36in and 40oz, with Chick Hafey knob)
Wattie Holm (R. Holm in block letters)
Bill Kelly (Billy Kelly in block letters, with shipping label)
Al Glossop (Glossop in block letters w/side writing)
Lee Dunham (Dunham in block letters)
Bing Miller (Bing Miller in block letters)
Name scratched off (Model 24EM w/eligible side writting)

As you can see, not many big names but that has been part of the allure for me collecting these bats.

The guy I met who claimed to work at the Kren factory was really old...he'd have to be since they closed in the early 1950's. I asked if Hand turned models were made for professional players or if certain model numbers were and how you can tell the difference from retail models. He said that they would take a Dick Porter model (26DP) and put Art Hord's endorsement on it. He said there was no pattern to separate pro and retail bats. Not sure how credible he was.

BigJJ, thanks for the post as well. I have seen a few pictures of pro players with Kren's but never a player hold a Kren Style bat. Again, I thinking that these Style bats were made for retail.

[Mark]

Mike,
Thanks for the info. Do any model numbers seem more common than the others? Is the EM24 (the Irish Meusel model, I believe) commonly used by pro players? I have one of them without anything on the label. My first Kren bat was an O'Doul block letter model, which I bought because it has Paul Waner side-writing from 1933.
Mark

[KrenBats]

Mark, I love the O'Doul/Waner bat! A lot of Pirates from the 1920's used Krens. I have a 1926 article on Joseph Kren and it states that "Speaker, Hornsby, Emil Meusel, Kiki Cuyler and practically every player on the world championship Pittsburgh Pirates use Kren bats".

Of all the gamers and store models I have, only two models overlap - model 145 and model 316W (Waner model). And yes model 24 EM is Irish Meusel. I really haven't seen and models more common than others but not sure I have a large enough sample size.

[KrenBats]

Anyone else on the board with any comments or info? Matt, Chris, others?

[MGHPro]

Great info.. thanks for posting. I think each Kren bat really needs to be looked at individually. A lot of bats were hand turned during the 20's and kren just happened to mark them that way, IMO possibly showing the pride they put into their product. I think many of the bats with "style" on them, were probably more for retail then pro use, but I'm sure some made their way into the majors. The bats with just a block letter last name, I think if it matches known specs/characteristics, you have a good shot of it being game used. Just cause a bat is hand turned, doesn't mean its a gamer IMO.

In the catalogs, does it say who model 27 is?
Thanks
Matt

[KrenBats]

Nothing in the catalogs on model 27. I know that model 31 is a Cobb model, model 32 is Mickey Cochrane and model 20 is Charlie Hollocer. Maybe someone on the board may know?