Hall of Famer and baseball’s Ironman Cal Ripken, Jr., in the season after he broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games streak, put up a solid Triple Crown slash line of .278/26/102 as the Orioles made a surprising appearance in the 1996 American League Championship Series. Offered here is a Louisville Slugger P72 model bat used by Ripken during the 1996 season and for the final time during the August 28th game against the Oakland A’s at Camden Yards in Baltimore. In Ripken’s first at-bat, he broke this bat flying out to left field off A’s pitcher Don Wengert in the bottom of the first inning. This bat displays outstanding game use and has the aforementioned crack in the handle that goes all the way up to the barrel. There are ball marks, stitch impressions, blue ink transfers and slight checking or grain swelling from repeated ball contact present on the barrel. Ripken has applied a piece of athletic tape to the barrel that has handwritten in black marker “8-28-96 1st AB vs OAK”. This bat comes directly from the personal collection of Cal Ripken, Jr. and a signed LOA from Cal will accompany this bat. Additionally, there is a LOA from PSA/DNA (1B24816) for the game use and has been given a high grade of GU 8, plus a LOA from Elite Sports Photo Matching (0066), who have matched this bat to the August 20th, 1996 game against the Seattle Mariners.

Auction Notepad