Signed Joe DiMaggio Game-used Bat, ca. 1946 | Best Moment | ANTIQUES ROADSHOW | PBS

well let's a Joe DiMaggio autographed bat I've got it through an auction in New Jersey back in 1976 well first let's talk about Joe DiMaggio widely considered the best ball player ever played 13 seasons all for the New York Yankees 1936 to 1951 and while only 13 seasons there because he also served two years in World War two nine World Series championships a 13 time all-star 2214 hits he finished up with a career batting average of 325 most known for the 56-game hitting streak that still stands today right I'm known as jolting Joe and the Yankee Clipper and I don't know how I could be more excited about an old wood bat to come in than this one today tell me a little bit more about how you how you acquired it I put a bid in through a male I bid 130 for it a gentleman back east bid 130 also so we had a three-way conversation via phone and they wanted us to outbid each other so I bid one hundred thirty-five and he bid 140 so I went up to 147 and he said that's too rich for me and what year was this this was 1976 as we're here today in 2000 $19 would be the equivalent of about 650 dollars or so I made 150 weekly and I put it 147 for the vet my wife wasn't too happy when it came in the mail it smelled like oil like olive oil tell me more about the probe announced the auctioneer provided when you were bidding on the bat it was game used autograph Joe DiMaggio bat the lady used to work for the Yankees in the front office her husband was a collector and she would get all these items for him he passed away when year and she didn't know what to do with all this stuff so she put everything up for auction did you ever meet Joe yeah I met Joe DiMaggio I heard that he was doing an autograph signing at a college in San Jose so I went I got in line very small line I mean nobody was there I was telling him about the bat and I asked him why is it black why is it bird and why is it sanded he said well you got my bread-and-butter bad see you know I I get a shipment and I go through the bats and I picked them the one that feels good I dip it in olive oil and I sprinkle rosin on it and then I put it under a flame when it's it's ice and it's smooth and that's my bread and butter that he told me that's awesome and one thing else I remember about Joe was he had Hugh's hands his hands were huge what year was that it was 1994 did you have anything sign that day he signed a baseball for me and how much did that cost in 1994 $30 I was gonna bring the bat but I didn't know for sure that he was gonna be there and I didn't want to bring it up what you talk about is exactly what we want to see to authenticate a Joe DiMaggio game use bat these special characteristics that were unique to him right and we know from his stories he told people like he told you we know that it's documented about some of these features were gonna go over about this bat so it is known that on his game used bats that he did sand the barrels the other thing about this bat too is we see the tape on the handle we're gonna assume that's because this bat cracked but what a lot of used this bat saw before it eventually took a crack the bat came out in 47 and that was his MVP year from the Louisville Sluggers that that I've reviewed 1946 to 1948 is when these particular specs were part of Joe's order right so we have the bat at 35 and 3/4 inches we have it at thirty five point seven ounces that's not uncommon for him to be slightly under 36 ounces because of the sanding and the use right this particular Louisville Slugger game used Joe DiMaggio bat is made of ash and then the last key component of course is the serial number on the knob are you familiar with that D 29 that's a small knob yep so part of the Louisville Slugger process was the players would order these bats to their specifications right and they would vary throughout their career they would change size and weight Joe DiMaggio was only known to change half an inch on the size of his bats over his career but that serial number would not be something that would ever get shipped to a hardware store sporting the store anything like that that number is unique to his game used bats it's also signed by Joe DiMaggio we can only imagine with the use on this how many hits did this one see if you've read about Joe's bats Joe DiMaggio some game use bats they're not readily available and like with ones like this you can see how much use he would get out of them they're hard to come by they're very desirable to the collectors I can find records as auction records have been data based now for you know 20 so years I can find maybe about 50 examples that have come to auction I am super excited about this bat I would place a value at auction of $80,000 to $100,000 awesome great that's that's great the great to hear great to hear you know I'll never sell it I would have a value placed on it for insurance purposes of a hundred and twenty five thousand dollars

Channel: Antiques Roadshow PBS

Views: 387,986

Rating: 4.8789439 out of 5

Keywords: antiques roadshow, pbs, sacramento, crocker art museum, Joe DiMaggio, Baseball, Baseball History, NY Yankees, Yankees, Sports History

Id: vtmnKSGAwyw

Length: 5min 37sec (337 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 19 2020

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Highlights from the video:

Autographed 1947 game used bat. 35 3/4”. 35.7oz. Dipped in olive oil, then rasined up, and burned. Then sanded.

Estimated vale at $80-$100K.