Opening Day Auction Closing May 9th
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/10/2015
As Willie May’s contemporaries remarked with respectable awe, no player was more consistently excellent year after year as number 24. In 1965, one of the years this Hall of Fame bat dates to, Mays reached the milestone of 500 career home runs that summer. At that time just the four other men in the history of the game had hit that many. He finished 1965 with a career high 54 home runs and was voted the National League's Most Valuable Player. He just missed repeating the honor in 1966 when he came in a close third in the voting. It was no surprise in 1970 when the Sporting News chose Willie Mays as the “Player of the Decade”. The Hillerich & Bradsby S2 bat shows excellent use and is un-cracked. The original finish has been removed through cleaning and several ball marks and stitch impressions are visible. Green and blue bat rack paint streaks are evident on the barrel and knob as are cleat imprints. Mays’ immortal number “24” is hand written on the knob end in black marker. This exquisite bat dates from Mays’ last great seasons, making it a true Hall of Fame worthy piece of baseball history. Letter of Authenticity 1B04638 from PSA/DNA who have graded this bat a GU 7.5.