Have bat, will travel - Babe Ruth's 11-notch homerun hitter in auction closing April 29 Babe Ruth's late-1920s baseball bat into which he carved 11 “gunslinger” notches - each representing a home run - is a premier lot in Grey Flannel’s Summer Games 2009 auction closing April 29.
It is said that, for a short period of time in the mid to late 1920s, like a gunslinger out of the Old West Babe Ruth would mark his “kill” by carving a notch on his game bat after he blasted a pitch out of the park. There have been suggestions that this might be an apocryphal tale befitting the Babe's legend, but many say there’s a mountain of evidence to back the claim. Part of that evidence is one of Ruth's bats used from 1926 to 1929 – a 4-season span during which he averaged an amazing 51.75 home runs per season – which is a premier lot in Grey Flannel’s Games of Summer 2009 auction closing Wednesday, April 29th. The bat is carved with 11 notches, each one representing a home run.
While it is not possible for the experts at Grey Flannel to identify exactly which of the 207 home runs chalked up during the late 1920s are represented by the notches on the bat, the timeframe would suggest the strong possibility of an association with the 60 shots he blasted over the wall in 1927, setting a record that stood for over half a century. Profound in any case is the fact that all of the notches were part of Ruth's career total of 714, a number that has become ingrained forever in American history.
Any authentic Ruth bat is a collector’s dream. The example to be auctioned, made by Hillerich and Bradsby, is from the labeling period of 1926-1929. It is 36 inches long and weighs 36¾ ounces. Both measurements correspond to bats ordered by Ruth during the referenced labeling period. This information has been extracted from Ruth’s Professional Bat Ordering Record on file at Louisville Slugger Inc.
The bat has numerous ball marks with a handle crack. There is grain swelling about the barrel and several bat boy nails on the back. Underneath the center brand are 11 home run notches that have been determined to be original.
There is a planed area on the left barrel of the bat indicating the bat was returned to the manufacturer so other bats of the same model could be ordered. This was a common practice during the 1920s. When received, Henry Morrow, the pro player representative at Hillerich & Bradsby would plane a small area on the barrel and inscribe the date received, weight and player name. Faint portions of lettering can still be seen in the side-written area but the player name and other information is illegible. Additionally, faint images of factory notations can be seen on the handle of the bat. The initials "B.R." have been carved into the knob, most likely to identify the bat once it was placed into the racks after its return to Hillerich & Bradsby.
There are only four known documented examples of bats notched by Ruth to log the number of home runs hit (it is believed Ruth used the edge of a file to engrave the bats).
