Auction Item Details
Lot 353
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Lot Number: 353
Description: Rare Ty Cobb professional model baseball bat c.1910-25. Bat measures 35" long and weighs 37oz. exhibiting excellent usage characteristics including defined ball marks, stitching impressions, cleat marks, "H" style handle crack, and vestiges of period handle tape residue. "COBB" is stamped in block lettering on the barrel end, which is appropriate to its manufacture as Spalding game model bats of the 1910-25 era do not have facsimile signature stampings. Only two other players in Major League history shared Cobb's last name - Herb Cobb who was a pitcher in 1929 (post dates Spalding markings on the offered bat) and Joe Cobb who played in one game in 1918 with no at bats - which further corroborates the bat's last name block letter stamping. Knob end has Spalding impressed logo stamping. Ty Cobb's compulsion to succeed on the diamond prompted one sportswriter to describe him as ""possessed by the furies"". Ty Cobb broke into the majors in 1905 after being purchased from the minor leagues for $750. Manager Hugh Jennings made him a regular outfielder in 1907 and Cobb became the youngest player to win the batting title. It was the first of 12 batting crowns, including nine in a row, both still records today. When he retired from the game in 1928, he held 90 major league records, most of these achieved with his bat. Most telling of his superiority is his .367 lifetime average, a daunting mark accomplished over a 24-year career that will likely never be approached. The offered Spalding Ty Cobb professional model bat represents one of the scant few of its type surviving to date displaying in its original period condition. Includes LOA from Hunt Auctions: VG-EXEstimated Price Range: ($10,000-$15,000)
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