Winter Auction 2016 Closing January 30th
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/31/2016
From the late 1920's through the 1930's the Chicago Cubs were one of the National League's powerhouse teams. With great hitting and all-star pitching, the Cubs won pennants in 1929, 1932, 1935 and 1938. The heart and soul of those pennant winners was the team's catcher Leo "Gabby" Hartnett. Before Hartnett joined the team, the Chicago Cubs were a disheartened lot of has-beens. That all changed in 1925 when Hartnett emerged as the Cubs starting catcher and hit 25 homers -smashing the old single-season record for home runs by a catcher. The front office wisely began building a team around him and Hartnett developed into one of the greatest backstops of the pre-war era. When he retired in 1941 he held the career records for most home runs, RBI, double and games caught by a catcher. The vote that elected him to Cooperstown in 1955 was just a formality. This Krens bat dates from circa 1925, the period Hartnett came into his own as the NL's premier catcher. Measuring 34" and weighting 38.4oz, the Krens I13GH model bat is un-cracked and shows excellent use. The bat has been honed to a hard, smooth surface and has taken on a warm tone over the decades. The Krens center brand and "HARTNETT" in block letters are dark and clearly stamped into the barrel. As you'd expect from a bat used by the Cubs hardest-hitting catcher, the barrel exhibits slight checking from repeated ball contact and several ball marks are still visible on the left and back barrel. A lathe mark is present on the knob end of the bat. It goes without saying that game used bats from the 1920's are scarce - to find one attributed to a Hall of Famer and Cubs star of Harnett's magnitude is extraordinary. Letter of Authenticity (1B06960) from PSA/DNA who have graded this Hall of Fame bat a GU 8.