Auction Item Details
Lot 597
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Lot Number: 597
Description: Important Ted Williams 1957 American League Batting Championship silver bat award. At age 38, Ted Williams started the 1957 season fending off injury and surely sensing that a career which had stretched across three decades was winding down. After missing the first two weeks of the season, he exploded off the bench and heading into the month of June was well atop the American League hitting .411. A mid season slump allowed Mickey Mantle to climb within reach and Williams was quoted as saying, "I want the batting title so badly I can taste it." Ultimately, there was no contest - Mantle was simply unable to keep up with his production. By seasons end Williams had amassed a .388 batting average and became the oldest player in the Major League history to earn a batting title, his fifth. Nearing forty years old, he set then records for a player of his age in numerous categories including homeruns, on-base percentage, extra base hits, and walks. It was this performance, and the one which followed in 1958 (in which he notched his 6th and final batting title), that lead followers of the game to proclaim that "few ever played so well for so long." Highly prestigious award representing one of the great individual accomplishments in sport and a singular opportunity to acquire one of the most cherished presentation pieces bestowed upon the greatest student of hitting that the game of baseball has produced. Full size 34" Louisville Slugger 125 model baseball bat with "Ted Williams" facsimile signature engraved in the barrel end. Lettered to the right is, "Batting Champion 1957, American League, B.A. .388." The "Hillerich & Bradsby" center brand and "Powerized" logos are executed in the same format as would have been utilized on his game bat. Marked "International" on end with "Sterling" and factory hallmark below and weighs 3lbs. 5oz. Exceptionally well preserved with incidental surface wear. This, and several non-descript pinpoint lines which are inherent to the manufacturing process, are visible only upon close inspection and in no way diminishes the outstanding display qualities of the bat. As the "silver bat" award had been created subsequent to 1948 when Williams had won his previous batting title the offered 1957 example was the first of its type that he had received. Includes black and white 8"x10" photograph of Williams with the bat along with a period 1958 newspaper article picturing Williams receiving the bat at Fenway Park on July 12th. Outstanding rarity which must be proclaimed as the most significant of its type extant given Williams stature as the greatest batsman who ever played the game: EX-MTEstimated Price Range: ($100,000-$200,000)
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