While Thurman Munson cultivated a surly on-field disposition which he unleashed on his opponents, 12 year-old bat boy Charles “Chuck” Hamlin, III was pleasantly surprised to see a different side to the Yankees catcher. In the summer of 1975, Hamlin was the visiting team bat boy at Kansas City’s Royals Stadium. Despite being from KC, Hamlin was a Yankees fan and the team’s burly backstop his hero.

     Seeing first-hand Munson’s impatience for reporters and autograph seekers, Hamlin was pleasantly surprised when the great catcher took the time to sit and talk with him in the dugout before the game. As the two sat in the dugout, Munson took out three bats and carefully wrote his number “15” in marker on each of their knob and barrel ends. Munson then instructed Hamlin to keep two of the bats separate and away from the bat rack and to go and get one of them only should he happen to break one. Sure enough, in his first at bat, Munson fouled a ball down the left field line, cracking the bat. Hamlin dutifully retrieved one of the spares and ran it out to Munson at the plate. “Told you… you always have to be prepared” the catcher said, exchanging the broken bat for the fresh one.

     Hamlin took the discarded bat to the dugout, and after the game asked his hero if he could keep it. “It’s yours” Munson said, giving the 12-year-old Hamlin a story and souvenir to last a lifetime. This is that bat Munson gave to his bat boy back in 1975. The Hillerich & Bradsby S44 shows excellent use with a repaired handle crack. Several ball marks with stitch impressions are visible on the left, right and back barrel as well as cleat imprints on the left barrel. A moderate coat of pine tar still clings to the handle. Model number “S44” is stamped into the knob end over which Munson’s immortal number “15” has been hand written in black marker. With the solid provenance from former bat boy Chuck Hamlin, III, this is the ideal Munson gamer. The bat comes with a full LOA from PSA/DNA (1B01812) for the game use and graded this bat a perfect GU 10 and a notarized letter from Charles Hamlin, III for the provenance.