Jackson bat goes for $137,500 US; Cobb bat sells for $132,000

habs71

<< <i>Saturday, Nov 06, 2004

Jackson bat goes for $137,500 US; Cobb bat sells for $132,000


LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A Louisville Slugger signed by "Shoeless" Joe Jackson sold for $137,500 US Saturday at a memorabilia auction held at the museum where the bats are made.
Cracked on the handle and worn on the barrel, the bat, made in 1910 or 1911, has Jackson's signature along the hitting area in bold ink. An unidentified private collector made the purchase.

The bat was the featured piece among 412 items sold. The Louisville Slugger Museum planned to use the funds raised by the auction to pursue other pieces of baseball memorabilia.

The museum dredged many of the auctioned items from a warehouse and file cabinets in the basement of the downtown Hillerich & Bradsby Co., where the trademark bats are still manufactured.

Also Saturday, a bat used by Ty Cobb went for $132,000, a record for a Cobb bat. Chris Cavalier, who runs a sports memorabilia business in San Ramon, Calif., made the purchase.

"I really didn't think I'd be leaving with this bat," Cavalier said. "It's still hard to believe I actually own it now."

The bat's value was enhanced by grease-pencilled writing on the barrel. The markings were not made by Cobb, but by a Hillerich & Bradsby receiving agent working at the factory during Cobb's era. They indicate that Cobb probably used the bat, then had it sent back to Louisville to have more made exactly like it.

Bats weren't the only items on sale.

A Cleveland Indians jersey worn by Satchel Paige was sold for $110,000. A letter handwritten by Babe Ruth, with six of his signatures at the bottom, and its original envelope went for $41,800. A baseball signed by Ruth and Lou Gehrig went for $31,900.



© The Canadian Press, 2004 >>





Skip

Allen

And just think, all that stuff had been in a warehouse and in ffile cabinets.

Ironmanfan

I can only hope that the Cobb & Jackson bats don't eventually end up in the hands of card companies and end up being chopped up in 100's of pieces & inserted into worthless cards!

Ruthfan

I was there at the auction and I don't think we will have to worry about those two bats being cut up anytime soon. I spoke to the buyer of the Cobb bat and he was going to hang onto it for a while and the person that placed the bid for the Jackson bat said that it was going in the buyers collection.

ajw

How much would the Jackson bat be worth if he had avoided the Black Sox scandal and been elected to the HoF?

I bet it would be about 15% or so...

crsportscards33

Hey Ruthfan, I was there too!! I live about 40 minutes away. Even though I had no intention of buying anything, it was cool just to witness firsthand some of their stuff. On sunday in the local paper (Lexington), they said the entire auction was just to free up room. Imagine what replaced those items!!! If you've never been to the Louisville Slugger Museum, you're missing out. If you're ever close, it's worth the 8.00. Awesome items indeed!

Ruthfan

Hillerich & Bradsby actually held the auction to raise money to aquire more items for the museum. The Cobb bat came from their vaults, but they also have another one just like it that they are keeping. The Jackson bat did not come from H & B as it was consigned by an individual. I believe the guy that owned the Jackson bat told me he was from the Washington D.C. area.

It takes alot of money for H & B to reaquire some of these bats as they paid over $400k for the Dimaggio Hit Streak bat that was in the April 2004 Mastro's auction.

Basilone

Hey Guys-

I heard the Thorpe bat did not sell....was it pulled or did it not get any bids?

John

Ruthfan

No, it sold. Dave Bushing bought it for someone. It sold for around $60k with buyers premium.

Basilone

Thanks for the information. It showed up their website as having sold for $0.00.



32 Significant Jim Thorpe professional model baseball bat c.1917-20. EX ($75,000.00-$100,000.00) $0.00