Ty Cobb's rookie bat hits a home run on the auction block
(CBS DETROIT) - A bat used by Tiger hall-of-famer Ty Cobb in his rookie season has sold for more than a million dollars.
The game-used bat is the earliest known to be used by Cobb in 1905. The minimum bid was set by Grey Flannel auctions at $100,000. There were 24 bids on the historic bat. It sold on Nov. 14, with the winning bidder paying $1,074,544.
The condition of the bat is among the best from Cobb's rookie season. It has evidence of being used in games, with a slight crack on the upper handle, ball marks on the right and back barrel and cleat marks on all sides of the upper barrel. There also appears to be remnants of a tape used on the lower handle.
Three sides of the barrel have been lightly planed for writing and notation from the factory. Since then, that writing has been worn off the bat. However, the knob and top of the barrel have been vaulted with a "C28" model number. That guarantees Ty Cobb's name would have been visible on the bat. It has been certified as authentic by Professional Sports Authenticator, also known as PSA. The collectable company gave the bat a GU 10 grade, the highest rating it gives to game used bats.
Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb spent 22 season with the Detroit Tigers. Nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," he received the most votes of any player of the first-ever Baseball Hall of Fame ballot in 1936, with 222 of 226 votes. Throughout his career, he set 90 Major League Baseball records and still holds several records to this day. He has the most batting titles with 12, and his career batting average of .366 is still the best in league history. He also stole home base 54 times in his career, more than anyone else in the game. In the 1912 season with the Tigers, he stole home base 8 times, another league record no one has some close to since 1946.
Ty Cobb was a player-manager with the Tigers from 1921-1926. Those were his last six season with the Tigers. He played two more seasons with the Philadelphia Athletics, where he had his last at-bat in 1928. He died in Atlanta in 1961 at the age of 74, but his legacy lives on, as shown by the million dollar sale of a bat he used in his rookie year, 127 years after he first stood in the batters box.