This offered Louisville Slugger C271 model bat dates from perhaps the best of Ken Griffey Jr.’s years as a ballplayer. During the 1998 season Junior led the American League in home runs when he tied a career high with 56 and added 146 RBI, only one short of the 147 he hit in 1997. He won the Silver Slugger and Golden Glove Awards as he continued to be the best player in baseball. Using this bat, Griffey connected for his career home run 322 on June 19th, 1998 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Griffey’s 28th home run of the season came off of Oakland A’s pitcher Blake Stein in the fourth inning of the Mariners’ 9-1 romp.

The Louisville Slugger C271 model bat shows outstanding game use and is un-cracked. As you’d want from the bat of a first ballot Hall of Famer, there are many ball marks with stitch imprints on the barrel. There are white leather ball scuffs with tremendous blue ink transfers that testify to Junior’s powerful swing. The barrel also has some of the black finish chipped off in several spots, and the handle has been taped in a crisscross pattern to enhance Griffey’s grip. To complete what has to be the ultimate Griffey gamer, the Hall of Famer has signed his name in contrasting silver pen right between the center brand and barrel stamping and inscribed “98” and “HR 28”. It just doesn’t get any better than this. This bat comes with a LOA from PSA/DNA (1B13971) for the game use and a COA signed by Ken Griffey, Jr., who states that this bat was used in 1998 for home run number 28.

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