Auction Item Details
Lot 790
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Lot Number: 790
Description: ***UPDATED DESCRIPTION*** Fine Jackie Robinson professional model baseball bat c.1956. There are many great names in the history of baseball. Of those, there are scant few whose legacies can be equated with the iconic figures and leaders of the world whose actions have changed history. Jackie Robinson epitomizes the very essence of the phrase "changing history". His path to immortality was filled with adversity, challenges, rewards, defeats, and ultimately success as he became the first African American player in the history of Major League baseball. Most sports fans in America know his story. Many non-sports fans know his story. Countless more will learn about his story as the years pass due to the recognition that he is finally, and justly, receiving within the baseball community and the country as a whole. Robinson entered the game of baseball some 60 years ago, which does not seem significantly far in the past, that is, unless one considers the dramatic social and political changes that have occurred since. In that spirit, we are proud to offer what we believe is one of the finest Jackie Robinson professional model baseball bats to have been offered at public auction. Louisville Slugger 125 model bat measures 35" long and weighs approx. 33oz. Model #C117L is stamped on the knob end along with a very bold "42" in period black paint. This style of black paint is documented to have been used on many other Brooklyn Dodgers game bats of the period. The bat itself presents very fine evidence of game use including multiple ball marks, stitching impressions, green/red rack marks, and slight grain checking to the back of the barrel from player use. Both the Louisville Slugger trademark stampings and facsimile signatures stampings remain pronounced and quite bold. The back of the barrel had a very minor chip which has been professionally restored and is mentioned for accuracy only. The bat's lineage begins with a New York priest by the name of Father Jimmy O'Halloran. In 1958, Ronald Allen, an insurance salesman, was traveling for business on the East Coast and met Father O'Halloran. Both were avid Dodgers fans and the two became friendly. In fact, Allen, who was from the Los Angeles area, kidded O'Halloran about the fact that the Dodgers had left New York for Los Angeles. Of OÆHalloran, Allen recounted in a 1982 letter to his daughter that, "He was a good fellow with a nice sense of humor who loved his cigars and Irish whiskey (another trait we had in common). He had a small collection of sports (nothing like mine), and was friendly with some of the Dodger players which impressed me greatly. The Jackie Robinson bat was his prized possession. He said that at the end of the 1956 season he started bugging Jackie to sell him a bat, and on the very last day, at Ebbets Field, Jackie approached him with the bat and offered to give it to him as a gift. Father Jimmy (as I called him) refused to accept the bat for free, so he offered Jackie $5.00 in exchange, which Jackie reluctantly accepted." Ron Allen purchased the bat from Father O'Halloran in 1962 for $100.00 after the priest had written to Allen indicating that he had become ill and needed to sell the bat. The bat remained in the family of Ron Allen until its sale to a private collector and is being offered for the first time publicly within this auction. The very fact that Father O'Halloran received the bat from Jackie Robinson on the final date of the 1956 season creates an incredible and plausible possibility that the offered bat is in fact the final one Robinson used during his Major League career. The bat includes extensive documentation and provenance to include: LOA from PSA/DNA Graded GU 10(John Taube); LOA from Vince Malta indicating the bat is one of ôthe finest, most important Robinson game bats in existence"; Original 1962 postcard sent to Ron Allen from Father O'Halloran with content regarding the bat; Original 1982 typewritten letter sent from Ron Allen to his daughter with detailed history of the bat; LOA from Hunt Auctions (bat). Incredible piece with relation to one of the game's greatest players and pioneers: EX-EX/MT
Estimated Price: ($75,000.00-$100,000.00)
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