Hall of Famer Bobby Doerr spent his entire career with the Boston Red Sox and was very much appreciative of the great players that played before him. 1951 was the last season for Doerr in the Majors and sometime in the spring, he sent a letter to Hall of Famer Ty Cobb requesting his autograph on a bat. In a letter sent back to Doerr, which now resides at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, Cobb willingly obliged and sent Doerr this offered Ty Cobb Hillerich & Bradsby C28 model bat.

Cobb signed his name in green pen across the barrel, in what looks like the same pen used to pen the letter to Doerr, and inscribed “To Bob Doerr From Ty Cob 5/3/51”. It’s important to note that the letter Cobb wrote to Doerr is also dated May 3, 1951. Cobb was clearly touched by Doerr’s letter as Cobb’s letter, which is on “TYRUS R. COBB 48 SPENCER LANE, ATHERTON MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA” letterhead, reads in part “Dear Bob, I was much honored and pleased that you should request my autograph on bat with such modesty, really you are paying me honor to ask. The bat is in mail back to you.”

Cobb was clearly appreciative Doerr’s skills as a player. In the letter, Cobb ads a post script that reads “P.S. I think you should know this, as a grand guy has passed on, Eddie Collins, he had seen you + Williams out here, he wrote and asked me to see you boys, he was sure of you both but only wanted to know what I saw. I wrote him, I saw you boys play several times, so Bobby I also scouted you and wrote Eddie what has come true, that I saw what I thought was a very fine second baseman and could not possibly miss when you came up, have followed you in box scores since. T.R.C.”

The significance of this bat cannot be overstated as this museum quality piece was given to one Hall of Famer to another. This bat comes with a LOA from JSA (Z86327) and a LOA from the family of Bobby Doerr. Also provided will be a copy (not the original) of the letter Ty Cobb sent to Bobby Doerr.

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