Earning an American League pennant means an automatic trip to the World Series. Since the inception of the World Series in 1903, 111 teams have earned the title of American League Champions (no World Series was played in either 1904 or 1994, the latter due to a players’ strike). Following a lengthy baseball tradition, members of the American League Championship squads who did not go on to win the World Series that year – along with affiliated team executives and dignitaries – were each presented with commemorative H&B Louisville Slugger "black
bats" to commemorate their outstanding accomplishment.
This lot features 23 different black bats chronicling 21 different seasons’ worth of A.L. championship teams; both the 1979 and ’81 A.L. champs are represented by two bats apiece. All of these bats were on display at the recently closed San Diego Hall of Champions.
Several of the Hillerich & Bradsby Co. (H&B) Louisville Slugger-branded bats feature the team’s name – for instance, “CLEVELAND INDIANS AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONS - 1997” – in green block lettering on the barrel. The bats are then stamped with an array of gold facsimile signatures and block letter names all around the barrel revealing the players, coaches, team execs, etc. The facsimile signatures are reported as being those players who were under contract with H&B, while block letter names were team members not under contract. The practice of green stamping the team names was started in 1970. With the exception of small burrowed holes in the knobs and tops of each of the barrels for display purposes, all 23 bats are in near-mint condition
with pleasing gloss, bold gold stampings and a generally like-new appearance.
The 21 teams represented in this lot are the 1954 Cleveland Indians, 1955 New York Yankees, 1957 New York Yankees, 1959 Chicago White Sox, 1960 New York Yankees, 1963 New York Yankees, 1964 New York Yankees, 1965 Minnesota Twins, 1967 Boston Red Sox, 1969 Baltimore Orioles, 1971 Baltimore Orioles, 1975 Boston Red Sox, 1976 New York Yankees, 1979 Baltimore Orioles (twice), 1980 Kansas City Royals, 1981 New York Yankees (twice), 1982 Milwaukee Brewers, 1983 Baltimore Orioles, 1986 Boston Red Sox, 1988 Oakland Athletics, 1995 Cleveland Indians
and the 1997 Cleveland Indians.
Includes Letter of Provenance from the San Diego Hall of Champions.