Offered for your enjoyment is a circa 1922-25 Ty Cobb H&B Louisville Slugger 40K Professional Model Game bat. Bat measures 34” in length and currently weighs 35.7 ounces. Both length and weight are within the manufacturing specifications ordered by Ty Cobb during his career. There are no H&B factory records to support Ty Cobb ordering these bats, but we do know that he was the inventor of the cork-gripped bat. In an article available to MEARS members on our website, Dave Grob wrote an article titled, “Cobb Corked His Bats” which chronicled the fact in the following excerpt,
“With Louisville Slugger being issued a patent for this grip in September of 1914, I figured some information or players comments might be available about these bits of lesser seen lumber during the period listed for the Sporting Life. The 20 December 1913 edition of the Sporting Life showed a small column with the headline “TY COBB INVENTOR: The Detroit Star Has Evolved a Cork Handle For The Bat.” The article is here for your own reading and reference. Cobb was obviously not an inventor, but rather a ball player. A ball player obsessed with being the best in the game and always looking for an edge. I don’t think it a stretch to imagine that he used a cork gripped bat at some point based on this information.”
Kork Grip: MEARS has established via photograph proof (Joe Jackson with Kork Grip bat), reference in the H&B factory records, and the examination of additional professional model 40K bats, that Louisville Slugger supplied professional ballplayers with this model. Examples examined include:
MEARS #302455 1921-31 Eddie Collins 40K
MEARS #301123 1914-15 Ty Cobb 40K
MEARS #251754 1911-16 Joe Jackson 40K
MEARS #303775 1917-21 Ty Cobb 40K
MEARS #255107 1917-21 Harry Davis 40K
MEARS #302906 1921-31 Frank Frisch 40K
MEARS #302914 1921-31 George Sisler 40K
MEARS #302944 1921-31 Ed Roush 40K
MEARS #301586 1921-31 Lew Fonseca 40K
With the exception of the cork grip, the above referenced bats were consistent with each players personal bat record ordering patterns with respect to length, weight, model, and barrel signature. The above players did have store model 40K bats offered to the general public, but those were found with inch marks on the knob. The above examples had hand turned knobs, which is a practice consistent with professionally produced bats. It should be noted that the two common players, Ramsey and Smith were also produced with hand turned knobs. The hand turned knobs were consistent for both common and Hall of Fame caliber players.
Common Players Examined
MEARS research 1921-31 George Ramsey 40K (block letter) 36”, 36.8 oz, hand turned, sw 7/28/23
MEARS research 1921-31 Harry Smith 40K (block letter) 34”, 32.3 oz, hand turned, sw 8/15/29
The examination of the Ramsey and Smith 40K bats proved that H&B did produce bats from common players.
The examination and listing of the above bats allows MEARS to establish the fact that Hillerich & Bradsby supplied major league ballplayers with 40K professional model bats from the era of 1911-31. The MEARS image of Joe Jackson with the 40K grip allows for photographic verification. The inclusion of Harry Davis & Lew Fonseca in the group allows for us to establish that 40K bats were supplied to non-Hall of Famers. All of the above-examined bats were also consistent with respect to model to their 125 H&B examples. There is also a specific factory record for Babe Ruth ordering Kork Grip bats during the 1921 season. It appears in the factory record as:
Tom Griffith, 8/9/21, with kork grip
This ledger entry verifies the fact that Babe Ruth did indeed request order of bats with the kork grip application.
A thorough examination of the H&B factory records did reveal additional references of major league ballplayers ordering Kork Grip bats. Under Cardinals star Pepper Martin H&B personal bat records, the following information is recorded:
5-10-40 order: Johnny Mize, use Hornbsy with cork handle, 36”, 35 ounce
7-24-40 order: Hornsby cork handle, 36”, 33 ounce
8-28-40 order: Hornsby cork handle, 35”, 33 ounce
Condition: The bat exhibits heavy game use, with additional use that cannot be attributed to Ty Cobb. The barrel end has dried out along with a chip of the knob. 60% of the cork is missing from the handle.
Collectors must find their own comfort level with these 40K model bats, but offered for sale is a Ty Cobb professional model 40K bat, manufactured to specifications requested by Ty Cobb, and a unique model (the 40K) of his own design.
Final Grade: MEARS Authentic.
LOA Troy R. Kinunen / MEARS