Summer Live and Premium 2018
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/2/2018
The 1955 season began with no Ted Williams. The slugger had retired at the end of the previous year, but a month into the new season Ted realized he could not sit around any longer. Returning to the Red Sox, Williams began hitting with a vengeance: .356 in 320 at-bats. His explosive return further established his reputation as baseball’s greatest hitter. The following two seasons were equally, if not more productive for the Splendid Splinter as Williams batted .345 in 1956 and an American League best .388 in 1957, the latter being his best full-season mark since hitting his historic .406 in 1941. In those three seasons of 1955 through 1957, Williams would hit 90 of his 521 career home runs and was in the top six in MVP voting each season, finishing second in 1957 to Mickey Mantle.
This Ted Williams game used Hillerich & Bradsby W183 model bat can be dated to the 1955 to 1957 seasons by inspecting the center brand. At the 10 o’clock spot on the oval is an imperfection “dimple,” a trait found on bats mostly manufactured in 1955, but also on some made as late as 1957. During this time period, Williams used the W183 model frequently and his ordering records show him being shipped W183 bats of 35 inches in length and weighting 32 ounces – this bat is 35 inches and 31.4 ounces (well within the accepted range of weight loss for a 60+ year-old bat). The bat is un-cracked and shows excellent use by Williams. As is characteristic of a Ted Williams gamer, several ball marks and stitch impressions are found on the front, right and left barrel. Also, there are green bat rack paint streaks visible. The model number “W183” is stamped into the knob with the weight “32” in pencil and Williams’ famed number “9” has been hand painted in black, another Ted Williams trait found on 1950’s gamers. Topping off this classic Ted Williams gamer is his signature in blue marker on the barrel between the center brand and stamped endorsement. The bat comes with LOA from PSA/DNA (1B14661) for the game use, which has been graded a solid a GU 8.5 and a LOA from JSA (Z60726) for the signature.