After 13 long years, Hall of Famer and baseball’s Ironman Cal Ripken, Jr. finally made it back to the postseason. Finishing in second place in the American League East with an 88-74 record, the Orioles qualified as the AL Wild Card and took on the AL Central Champion Cleveland Indians in the Division Series. Baltimore would dispatch the Indians in four games of the best-of-five series and advanced to the ALCS to take on their division rival New York Yankees. Ripken collected 8 hits in 18 at-bats for a lofty .444 average in Baltimore’s four-game series win.

Offered here is one of the sticks used by Ripken during the 1996 ALDS against the Indians that comes directly from the personal collection of Cal Ripken, Jr. This Louisville Slugger P72 model bat displays outstanding game use with a crack on the upper handle. The barrel has ball marks, blue ink transfers, white leather scuffs and checking or grain swelling from repeated ball contact present on the barrel. Ripken has added a piece of athletic tape below the Louisville Slugger trademark and handwrote “Divisional Series 96”. There is also a piece of athletic tape on the knob that reads “2nd AB”. A wonderful playoff gamer from Ripken and this comes with a signed LOA from Cal Ripken. Additionally, there is a LOA from PSA/DNA (1B24813) for the game use and has been given the highest possible grade of GU 10.

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