Mickey Mantle 1980-83 H&B Records?

[sammy]

Hi,

Are there any H&B records for Mickey Mantle bats during the 1980-83 era?

Thank you.

[earlywynnfan]

Mike Specht would answer this more definitely, but I asked this very question once and was told that there are zero orders of bats for Mantle after the 77-9 period.

Ken

[MSpecht]

Hi Sammy and Ken---

The records that were gathered from H & B relative to Mickey Mantle were the three Player Bat Cards used to document his shipped orders between his first documented order shipped on 6/27/1949 and his last documented order shipped on 9/25/1974 (for an Old timer's Game.) No other orders are documented as having been shipped during the Player Bat Card era (1930-1981) prior to the advent of the computerized data system.

Whether any computerized records exist for Mantle post 1981, I do not know. Truthfully, we did not even look for them at the time as they would have been so far removed from his playing days that they would have been irrelevant to our task at hand.

Jim Caravello may have some additional information deep in his Yankee files.

Good Luck.

Mike Jackitout7@aol.com

[sammy]

Hi Mike & Ken,

I appreciate the reply and info.

Was looking at a Mantle 80-83 era bat from Left Field Collectibles, but without any documentation it's too much money for just a bat.

[JimCaravello]

Hi Sammy - just a follow up to Mike's post - I do have Mantle Shipping Records through the past few years. I believe Left Field Collectibles currently has an S2 model for auction on ebay? Is that the bat you are referring to?

There are two orders for S2 bats on Mantle's Ledger Card during the 80-83 period. The first is from 12/16/82 for 35" - 32 ounce bats - only one bat ordered. On 3/14/83 - there is an order for 12 bats - all 34" with no weight indicated. Both orders were under the Customer Name of Baseball Miscellaneous.

I have reviewed the ebay Listing and the bat actually has an 84-85 label even though its listed as 80-83. The auction description indicates that the bat "was obtained from the collection of Lou McDonald who was associated with the Mickey Mantle Holiday Inn at Joplin, MO. Mr. McDonald was well known as a longtime collector of Mantle memorabilia"

Some collectors refer to the 84 - 85 labeling period as really the mid 1983 - 1985 labeling period as Louisville Slugger intorduced the smaller label mid season in 1983.

Could the bat on ebay be from the March 1983 order? Possibly - but unlikely. My guess is the bat auctioned on ebay has the correct provenance that Art Jaffe at Left Collectibles has indicated, but was not a bat that was recorded in Mantle's Ledger card when ordered.

If I can be of any further assistance, please let me know. Thanks, Jim