Eddie Collins burst into the American League in 1906 after a recorded of both academic and athletic excellence at Columbia University. Collins’ refined and educated manner immediately set him apart from the average ballplayer of his day while his bat and play at second base further pushed him ahead of the pack and made him a star. Playing for Connie Mack’s Athletics, Collins was one of the leaders of the A’s team that won four straight pennants and three World Championships. After winning the World Series with the A’s in 1914, Collins was traded to the Chicago White Sox. He quickly established himself as a team leader and the White Sox won the World Series in 1917.

Despite being a supremely talented ball club, the White Sox were a heavily divided team. Half of the players looked to Eddie Collins for guidance while a disenfranchised group looked to ex-prizefighter and career troublemaker Chick Gandill. This schism led to the Gandill-led group throwing the 1919 World Series. Collins and his crew emerged from the scandal clean, and Eddie went on to become only the 6th player in history to reach the 3,000-hit mark and was among the first group of players elected to the Hall of Fame when it opened in 1939.

This Hall of Fame-worthy gamer was used by Eddie Collins and has been dated to the 1916-1919 seasons. In those four seasons, Collins maintained a .300 batting average and led the NL in stolen bases with 33 in 1919. This bat displays outstanding game use with a crack on the handle that has been repaired. There are ball marks and cleat imprints on the barrel and the handle was taped in a spiral pattern with only the shadow of that tape still appearing. This bat has a slight variation of the C-3A and 3B center brand that appeared on the H & B bats from 1916-1922. The “125” mark is the one consistent feature with a “dash dot dash” under the Hillerich & Bradsby brand. According to the game experts at PSA/DNA “Reviewing our copies of Collins Professional Bat Ordering Records (PBOR), the originals of which are on file at the Louisville Slugger Museum, we see the notation “White Filler” beginning with an order placed in 1923 continuing through his final order of r the 1927 season. Remnants of a “White Filler” can be seen in the center brand the barrel brand. The first available records for Collins begin with the 1920 season. From 1920 through the 1922 season, there is no mention of a “White Filler” so we are inclined to place the manufacturing date of the subject bat to the 1916 to 1919 time period.” This bat comes with a LOA from PSA/DNA (1B18404) for the game use and has been given a very high grade of GU 9.

Auction Notepad