Winning the National League pennant means an automatic trip to the Fall Classic. Since the inception of the World Series in 1903, 111 teams have earned the title of National 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 National 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 Hillerich & Bradsby Co. (H&B) Louisville Slugger "black bats" to commemorate their great accomplishment.
This lot features 22 different black bats chronicling 20 different seasons’ worth of N.L. championship teams. All of
these bats were at one time on display at the recently closed San Diego Hall of Champions.
Many of the H&B Louisville Slugger-branded bats feature the team’s name – for instance, “PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS - 1983” – 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 22 bats are in near-mint condition with
pleasing gloss, bold gold stampings and a generally like-new appearance.
The 22 teams represented in this lot are the 1952 Brooklyn Dodgers, 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers, 1956 Brooklyn Dodgers, 1958 Milwaukee Braves, 1961 Cincinnati Reds, 1962 San Francisco Giants, 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers, 1968 St. Louis Cardinals, 1970 Cincinnati Reds, 1972 Cincinnati Reds, 1973 New York Mets, 1974 Los Angeles Dodgers, 1977 Los Angeles Dodgers, 1978 Los Angeles Dodgers, 1983 Philadelphia Phillies, 1985 St. Louis Cardinals, 1987 St. Louis Cardinals, 1989 San Francisco Giants, 1991 Atlanta Braves, 1992 Atlanta Braves, 1993 Philadelphia Phillies and the 1996 Atlanta Braves.
Includes Letter of Provenance from the San Diego Hall of Champions.