Babe Ruth 100th Anniversary Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/12/2014
On August 26, 1961 Maris clocked a Jerry Walker pitch into the stands for his 51st homer of the season. From the second his bat connected with that ball, Maris was only 10 away from besting the most cherished record in sports. Knowing the significance of the moment, Kansas City's visiting team bat boy Ron Turley made sure he obtained the bat after Maris cracked it in the following day's game, along with a Cleat Boyer gamer. As the visiting team's bat boy, all broken bats were the responsibility of Turley, and both of these bats remained in his possession since that day in 1961. This bat is consigned to us directly from the batboy on that day, Ron Turley, and comes with his notarized affidavit. It is noted for disclosure purposes that there was a previous claim by a Yankees bat boy to have owned the bat Maris used to hit home run 51, but that claim has been relinquished by that individual upon being presented with the provenance of this bat.
As stated by the original owner, the handle exhibits a crack which has now been professionally repairs. Likewise has the checking present on the barrel from repeated ball contact. Maris' Hillerich & Bradsby model A92 shows heavy game use. Many ball marks and stitch impressions can be seen as well as cleat imprints. Blue bat rack streaks are visible and there is evidence of a water stain on the barrel. There is a light coat of pine tar remaining on the upper handle. The knob end has the model number "A92" stamped into it, over which the future single season home run king wrote his name "Maris" in black marker. This is a characteristic he did to many of his bats during the period and just a quick perusal of Maris press photos from the era clearly shows his bats marked in such a fashion.
In addition, his famous number "9" appears in faded black marker on the barrel end. From the hand written name on the knob to the the heavy ball marks and its rock-solid provenance, this historic piece of ash has every bell and whistle you would want to see on the bat actually used to hit one of the home runs that created a new record. Letter of Provenance from Ron Turley and Letter of Authenticity from PSA/DNA who have thoroughly examined this bat and graded it a GU 8.5. With its solid provenance the bat would be worthy of a GU 10 had it not exhibited Maris' game use to the extent he cracked it's handle and the wood checked from his ball contact.