Napoleon Lajoie 1905-11 Cleveland Naps J.F. Hillerich & Son Louisville Slugger - $16,650 - (Auburn, AL)
During the deadball era, Napoleon Lajoie was recognized as one of the games earliest super stars. Louisville Slugger also recognized his star status and was quick to sign him to an exclusive contract, the third player to do so behind Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb. With his signing to a H&B contract, Napoleon Lajoie used Louisville Slugger bats. Traditional facsimile barrel stamping was not perfected until circa 1916-18, so the signature of the player was incorporated into the design of the decal. This was important to branding and player identification, as the practice was also seen in the design of the Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb decal bats that adorned their models. When evaluating pre 1917 professional model game used bats, different criteria must be applied to the authentication process. Factory records to support bats from this pre 1917 labeling period are almost not existent. What is available are a handful of ledger entries, which most often only listed a player's weight. A specific reference to this bat is not known at this time, but other factors lead us to conclude it is a professional model. MEARS applies photographic evidence, other examples examined in the MEARS database, and the examination of limited but known H&B ledger entries. The combination of the above information is the basis of our opinion. There is photographic evidence that players used decal bats in Major League games during this period of 1906 to 1911. MEARS recently archived a photo of an unnamed New York Giant, circa 1904-07, using a decal bat of an unidentified bat maker. Additional photos of players using decal bats in the major leagues include: 1. 1902-15 circa undated photo of Hall of Fame catcher Roger Bresnahan using a decal bat from an unknown supplier.2. 1914 Hank Gowdy was mentioned in the 1939 H&B catalog as using a decal bat during the World Series.3. 1908 circa Ty Cobb photo using a decal bat. Additional professional model decal bats have been examined by MEARS, which perfectly ma…
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