This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/28/2009
Great items often come with a great story, but seldom will you find it chronicled in a national publication. The March 9th, 1954 issue of Look Magazine tells the complete story and yes, it’s included with the lot. This Pee Wee Reese bat, from the personal collection of Brooklyn Dodger outfielder George “Shotgun” Shuba, is the absolute essence of baseball in America during the 1950s…The Yankees vs the Dodgers.
Hall of Famer Pee Wee Reese found this particular bat much to his liking going down the stretch of the 1953 season and wanted it ready for battle with the Yankees in October. On September 14th, 1953 Reese placed two orders for this B91 at 35”, 30 oz (3 bats) and 32 oz (3 bats). This offering measures out at 35” and currently weighs 30.5 ounces. The only other order for the B91 during his entire career was for the 1953 World Series bats at 35” and 32” on September 23rd 1953. With the 1953 season ending for the Dodgers in Philadelphia on September 27th, those World Series bats would not have arrived in time for “the Little Colonel” to break them in. This bat shows terrific use and is commensurate with what you would expect to see in a bat used during the last couple of weeks of the 1953 season. One thing that is noted in the MEARS LOO about the use and condition of the bat are the eight vintage nails on the sweet spot of the bat, but trust me, these are far from being a detracting characteristic as you will soon learn.
Prior to Reese placing his first order for the B91, he actually requested to have a new model made from the barrel of the O16 (a model he had used earlier in the year) and the handle of a B91. This became the R109 in August of 1953. Reese was shipped six of these bats, never to order them again. Pee Wee clearly used a B91 and found something about to his liking, but whose B91 did he try out? Enter George Shubba. Shuba also ordered and used the B91 at 35” and a similar weight throughout his time with the Dodgers. Since this B91 was departure from what Reese typically swung, he may have in fact borrowed one of Shuba’s during the late summer months. So Shuba’s asking Reese to borrow a bat from him, this bat, would not have been out of the ordinary, especially if the team captain felt it was a bat with hits to spare. All of this is actually recounted in a January 1994 letter signed by both Reese and Shuba that will accompany the bat.
What is out of the ordinary, and actually extraordinary, is what happened to it after the loan. All of this well documented in the Look Magazine articlet, but the short story is that this bat was used by Shuba to hit his 6th inning pinch hit home run to deep right field in Game 1 of the 1953 World Series. The next day, Phil Rizzuto asked to borrow the bat from Reese during batting practice. According to Pee Wee Reese as detailed in Look Magazine, “ The Yankees may be good fellows, but it is a blunder to extend them good fellowship. I had a nice 30-ounce set aside for the Series. Rizzuto asked me if he could borrow it for batting practice for batting practice before the Friday game at Ebbets Field. He may have known I let George Shuba take it when he went up to pinch-hit in the Thursday game at the Stadium and hit a home run. Anyway, I let Rizzuto borrow it. While they took batting practice, we had our pre-game clubhouse meeting. When I came back on the field, I couldn’t find the bat. Our bat boy finally located it over near the Yankee dugout, and it was broken. “What happened?” I asked Rizzuto. “I don’t know what happened, Pee Wee,” he said. Anyhow, it was an illegal bat. It had nails in it.”
Final Grade: MEARS A9. Base grade 5 points for matching factory records, 3 points for heavy use, 2 points for Shuba provenance, minus 1 point for degree of handle crack. The handle crack, which needed a technical subtraction to remain consistent with the MEARS grading criteria, could be argued as a point of strength as it "mysteriously" appeared under the care of Phil Rizzuto and the New York Yankees.
Reese-Rizzuto; Dodgers-Yankees rivalry incarnate; and the bat used by George Shubba to hit the first National League World Series pinch-hit home run are all part of this A9 offering. For those Brooklyn Dodger collectors, there can’t be a “wait till next year” because by then, this bat will already be in someone else’s collection.
In addition, included with the lot is a hand written letter signed by George "Shotgun" Shuba. The letter reads, "I George Shotgun Shuba, along with Pee Wee Reese used the same bat as stated above. This happened in the first game of the 1953 World Series at Yankee Stadium. Pee Wee Reese used this exact bat four times during the series. The first time, in the top of the first, then again in the top of the third, again in the fifth and once more in the top of the eighth. Before the game Pee Wee and I decided that this bat had good wood and we would use it in the first game. dated March 23, 2008. (signed) George Shotgun Shuba"