Oklahoman Paul Waner was one of the best hitters during baseball’s Golden Age, the best Pirates hitter since the days of Honus Wagner. Shortly after his debut in 1926, Paul was joined in the Pittsburgh outfield by his younger brother Lloyd, and the two would be forever known as “Big Poison” (Paul) and “Little Poison” (Lloyd), “poison” being Brooklynese for “person.” In his 20-year career, Paul was just the 7th player in history to join the 3,000 Hit Club, won two batting titles and an MVP Award. In his prime from 1926 through 1940, Paul hit .342 and led all of baseball with 2,868 hits, 558 doubles and 187 triples. When the first All-Star Game was played in 1933, Paul Waner was in right field as a starter. Even after he had reached his physical peak in 1940, Paul was still a valued bench player and spent the next five years playing for the Braves, Dodgers and Giants.

1944 saw Paul splitting the season between Brooklyn and Boston, batting .280 despite being 41 years old. This Hillerich & Bradsby pre-model bat was used by Big Poison during that 1944 season. The bat is cracked on the back barrel and shows outstanding use. Several ball marks and stitch impression are found on the right, left and back barrel and several blue ink transfers can be seen on the right barrel. The right barrel shows blue bat rack paint streaks and cleat impressions are visible on the right and back barrel. The bat has taken on a warm dark-brown tone from age against which the barrel and center brand stamping display nicely. A visually appealing gamer from a first ballot Hall of Famer. The bat comes with a LOA from PSA/DNA (1B02639) for the game use and has been graded a solid GU 8.5.

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