Heritage Auctions has opened its Winter Platinum Night sale, with 1,000+ items up for grabs including a rack full of bats once used by some of baseball’s biggest icons.
None of the nearly 100 sticks being offered is bigger than a 1926-27 Lou Gehrig model that’s expected to bring at least a high six-figure price.
“Game-used bats represent the tools of the trade for baseball players and we are proud to be offering lumber from many of the all-time greats in this Platinum Night Auction,” says Chris Ivy, Director of Sports Auctions at Heritage Auctions. “At the top of that list is an incredible Lou Gehrig gamer that dates from the Yankees’ historic 1927 season, which Gehrig personally signed for one lucky fan.”
One of the two earliest known Gehrig bats sold for $1.025 million at Heritage’s Winter Platinum Night Sports Collectibles Catalog Auction three years ago. That bat included factory sidewriting that assured it had been used by Gehrig. The bat offered here is not sidewritten, but does carry an authentic signature from Gehrig. Bats used by the legendary first baseman are rare and in high demand, and the presence of his autograph with a black fountain pen only increases the allure.
The bat was fashioned from top-grade Northern White Ash by the Joseph G. Kren Bat Company of Syracuse, NY. It has been speculated that teammate Babe Ruth got Gehrig interested in Kren bats. The bat measures 36 inches in length and weighs a seismic 43.1 ounces — reminiscent of the tree trunk-like lumber Ruth swung on his way to the Hall of Fame. In the years Gehrig was in possession of the bat, his slugging percentage jumped by more than 200 points and he nearly tripled his home runs, including a career-high 52 long balls in 1927.
Gehrig’s bat is one of nearly 100 in the auction, a list that also includes:
- A 1960 Ted Williams model, rated PSA/DNA GU 10 and dating to Williams’ final season with the Boston Red Sox. The Hall of Famer famously ended his career with a home run in front of an adoring crowd at Fenway Park. But with that and just one other long ball still ahead of him, he headed to the plate at Chicago’s Comiskey Park Sept. 11, 1960, with the lumber offered here in his hands. As he hit the ball, he felt a faint shiver, indicating compromised structural integrity — not enough to splinter the bat, but enough that it was retired permanently. It ended up in the hands of the consignor, who had won an essay contest to serve as a bat boy at Comiskey. The bat is accompanied by a letter from the consignor in which he attests to the Sept. 11, 1960 date, a claim strengthened by a PSA/DNA letter that declares the bat matches a single order of bats — Williams’ last — Sept. 1, 1960.
- 1961 Hank Aaron All-Star Game-used bat (GU 9.5) The Adirondack 63A was given by the baseball icon to an young fan who posed for a photo with Aaron while wearing a t-shirt bearing the Hall of Famer’s name across his chest. The recipient of the bat sold it to a Wisconsin card shop owner decades ago, reporting at the time that he had won some sort of contest with a local dairy to meet Aaron and accept his All-Star bat — the evidence of which is a photo that is included with the bat.
- A 1950 Joe DiMaggio Game-Used Bat, PSA/DNA GU 8.5
- A 1970-72 Willie Mays Game-Used Bat, PSA/DNA GU 10
- A 1922-25 Ty Cobb Signed Decal Bat, PSA/DNA Authentic
- A 1976 Frank Robinson Game-Used Bicentennial Bat, PSA/DNA GU 10 (photo-matched)
- A 1989 Ken Griffey, Jr. bat (GU 9.5) dated to Griffey’s earliest days in the big leagues.
The Platinum Night Auction will close over two nights, Feb. 25 and 26.
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