Before the two MVP Awards and the eight All-Star appearances, before the six Silver Sluggers and the membership in the 30-30 – even before he was Rookie of the Year, there was a teenage Mike Trout, Angels farmhand, trying to make it to The Show. And while pieces of memorabilia from his major league career are readily available and highly sought after, this bat is something altogether unique. This bat was used by the future superstar to hit his very first hit at the AA level. This was back in 2011 and the 19-year-old Trout was just promoted to the Arkansas Travelers of the Texas League. The kid from Millville, New Jersey followed up that first AA hit by hitting a prodigious .326 in 91 games. The Angels had seen enough and brought their star farmhand up to Anaheim at the end of the 2011 season.

This minor league used Old Hickory J143 model bat shows a tremendous amount of game use – the barrel is covered with ball marks with stitch impressions, cleat imprints and ink transfers from repeated ball contact. It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities to say that by looking at the amount of wear on this bat, it was surely one of Trout’s favorite sticks. The knob end has a ring of adhesive tape to enhance the grip – a trait he would continue when he made the majors for good in 2012 – and his Arkansas Travelers number “90” is handwritten in black marker. To complete this early milestone bat, the young slugger has signed the barrel in blue marker adding, “2011 G/U 1st AA Hit.” This bat comes with a LOA from PSA/DNA (1B16936) for the game use and has been graded a near-perfect GU 9.5.

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