Collecting Baseball’s Most Prized Asset

by Jarrett H.

Display of baseball bats with vintage tobacco sign

Starting from a very young age I’ve always been a collector. Mostly baseball cards up until my college years and into starting a family when buying cards gave way to having a mortgage and car payments. Even when I stopped buying baseball cards, I was always on the lookout for baseball items at garage sales and auctions. Picking up a gem here and there. When moving into a new house and having to go through the collection that I had kept all of those years, it definitely sparked a renewed interest in all things collecting. I had always had a few baseball bats around and after coming across a couple books about the History of Louisville Slugger and bats, I was down the rabbit hole of vintage bats. The older the better. I love the early shapes before there were standards of what a baseball bat should be. Also all the retail options that carried the names of super stars from Wagner and Cobb to Mantle and Griffey. My interest has evolved into some game used but those are harder to get your hands on. And come with higher price tags. I’d have to say that I’ve got two bats that are the most special. One an old non descript hand made bat that is signed by Honus Wagner. And the other is a bat I got from an auction. A 20’s era George Sisler player bat. I liked how old it was and that it was from the time period of his playing days. When I got the bat I noticed it had a sticker on the end with a number. Turns out it was a Mears authentication number. All of which was left out of the info in the auction description. I was happy to find out that this particular bat was a Sisler game used bat from his 1928 season.

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