Mile High Card Company Sells Incredible 1910-15 Game-Used Louisville Slugger Ty Cobb Bat for $325,000

Castle Rock, CO - Mile High Card Company, the leader in sports card and memorabilia auctions, has brokered the private treaty sale of a 1910-1915 Ty Cobb Professional Model Game-Used J.F. Hillerich & Son Louisville Slugger Bat PSA/DNA GU 9.5 for $325,000. “Ty Cobb was the greatest offensive juggernaut of his day and ranks among historians as one of the top five players ever. This amazing piece is the cornerstone to any world-class collection and both parties involved are very pleased with the transaction” said MHCC President and CEO Brian Drent.

In addition to holding the all-time record with a .366 batting average, “The Georgia Peach” reeled off nine consecutive American League batting titles from 1907-1915, an era which includes the time period from when the featured Hillerich & Son Co. bat, known as “His Original Cobb,” was used. With extremely strong stamping, exact specifications and telltale evidence of Cobb’s bat preparation, it’s one of the finest examples of a Cobb game-used bat known to exist. Weighing 38 ounces with a length of 34.5 inches, it’s a massive war club for a 175 lb. free-swinger, but then again, Ty Cobb was no ordinary ballplayer. The specs perfectly match the large majority of Cobb gamers, and the fact that the weight has remained constant as the wood has not dried out over its century-plus of existence adds further evidence as to its status as a museum-worthy specimen.

“It’s an amazing piece of history from early on in Cobb’s career and the fact that it shows such a strong amount of use but very little erosion to the wood or fading of the stamps makes it extremely unique.” Brian Drent added. The center brand carries two "dash-dot-dash" symbols appearing below "Louisville Slugger" and markings on the knob to show that it was hand spun, confirming it as an authentic Cobb gamer. The location of the engraved Cobb signature also dates the bat to the early years of his career as it would be moved further up the barrel on Cobb bats later that decade. With the company changing that center stamp from “J. F. Hillerich & Son” to “Hillerich & Bradsby’ in 1916, the time period of the bat is also confirmed as an early career example. The cleat marks on the barrel and tape residue on the handle match several of the highest graded Ty Cobb bats in the PSA/DNA database. The combination of identifiable player characteristics, specifications that match factory records and medium to heavy game were used by authenticators at PSA/DNA to warrant an elevated grade of GU 9.5. A 1919-1922 Ty Cobb bat PSA/DNA GU 10 sold for $253,000 in 2012. The buyer of the bat is a private collector who opted to remain anonymous.

Mile High Card Company has been involved in several private sales of world-class sports cards and memorabilia, and through the auction process, just completed the sale of a T206 Honus Wagner PSA 2 for a world-record price of $1,353,625. MHCC is currently accepting consignments for the January Auction, so if you desire the maximum possible return for your prized sports cards and memorabilia, please call our office at (303) 840-2784 to speak with one of MHCC’s experts, or visit our website at www.milehighcardco.com.