August 6, 2015: Sports & Americana Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/6/2015
This Hillerich & Bradsby model M135 Stan Musial professional model bat exhibits evidence of heavy use with an upper handle crack. There is checking (grain swelling) on the back of the barrel from repeated ball contact and a small missing chip above the “Powerized” on the front barrel. Several ball marks and stitch impressions are visible on the right and left barrel, with blue bat rack marks on the back of the barrel. Cleat impressions are visible on the left barrel and the right barrel has been heavily scored to enhance the hitting surface. The model number M135 is stamped into the knob of this 31.8-ounce, 34.5-inch bat. The M135 model number can be pin-pointed to a single order of 12 on May 23, 1949. We should point out that the handle crack has been secured with glue and the swelling on the barrel appears to have a light coat of glue. Musial bats from the 1940s are nearly impossible to find and Musial has essentially written an LOA for this one, signing it boldly “Stan the Man Musial, Gamer 1949.” The bat arrives graded PSA/DNA 7.5 by John Taube. The bat also arrives with a notarized LOA from Greg Schor, who was the original owner of the bat. Finally, when our consignor got this bat signed, longtime business partner Dick Zitzmann original told him there is no way Musial would sign the bat this way, but after handling it for a while, Musial signed it "Gamer 1949" and mentioned it was the oldest bat from his career that he ever recalled signing. This is the earliest Musial gamer we've seen and, in our humble opinion, this one was undergraded, and arrives with great provenance since it's also the only one we've ever seen where Musial confirmed it's game-use when he signed it.
Stan Musial 1949 Game-Used Signed Louisville Slugger Bat Inscribed "Stan 'The Man' Musial, Gamer 1949"
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