1970 Hall of Fame Induction Brown Bat

Each July, baseball royalty meets in Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and stars of yesteryear convene to exchange yarn of their glory in the sun. Beginning in 1936, baseball commenced to pay homage to its best in ceremonious enshrinement – and then eternally immortalized in their individual museum plaques.

Over the years, Cooperstown has become an institution of hallowed renown, and throughout the community of the game, other supportive institutions have since risen to chorus those chosen masters of the diamond. Of the latter, there appeared in 1983 the first in an annual series of commemorative bats. These were crafted by Louisville Slugger, similar in design to that company’s popular black bats, except that Hall of Fame commemorative bats were all produced with a brown color finish. In that first year, 1983, there were celebrated the charter members of the Hall of Fame as their names were emblazoned on the barrel of the bats. Then, proceeding in ’84, the second class of enshrinees (i.e. 1937) was similarly memorialized. Correspondingly, each year since as progressed in the same fashion. From the onset, 500 serialized bats were produced each year. The Hall of Fame commemorative bats in the following catalog listings are, for the most part, numbered 259/500.

A NM/MT Louisville Slugger LE 259/500 bat with class of 1970 HOFer names engraved commemorating the enshrinement of: Lou Boudreau, Earle Combs, Ford Frick and Jesse Haines.