(LOT 16)
c. 1910-15 Joe Jackson 14" H&B Louisville Slugger Decal Bat - Extremely High-Grade Example
MINI BETSY!!! Perhaps Roy Hobbs was the only other ballplayer aligned with his beloved bat Wonderboy quite like that of Shoeless Joe Jackson and Black Betsy. However, the New York Knights outfielder, the bat lathed from a lightning-struck tree and his rise to fame and glory derived from a 1952 novel by Bernard Malamud, Shoeless Joe's story was genuine and fairly tragic. Black Betsy was hand-made from a hickory tree in Jackson's home state of South Carolina by a fan in 1903, when Shoeless Joe was still just Joe and only 15. Darkened with tobacco juice, this bat earned the name "Black Betsy" and Shoeless Joe carried it throughout his career. In 1911, while with the Cleveland Naps, Jackson broke Black Betsy but sent it to the J. F. Hillerich Co. to have it fixed.

He hit .408 that season and used Black Betsy for the rest of his career. Offered here is a circa-1910-15 Joe Jackson Louisville Slugger Black Betsy replica 14" mini-bat. This superbly-kept J.F. Hillerich & Son Co. displays that deep dark hue reminiscent of the tobacco juice staining of Black Betsy with an ornate avocado green and red Louisville Slugger decal featuring Jackson's portrait on the barrel. Light flaking and age crack are apparent within the decal, though it is still clear and crisp. Period black grip tape remains affixed to the handle. One of the nicest high-grade Shoeless Joe Jackson relics to survive more than a century of storage and display wear.

MIN BID $1,500
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