Louisville Slugger Retiring Derek Jeter's Bat Model
LOUISVILLE (CBSMiami/AP) — Louisville Slugger has been making baseball bats for more than a hundred years, but there's one model it won't be making any longer: the P72, the model that Derek Jeter has used his entire career.
The company said Wednesday it is retiring the model in honor of the retiring New York Yankee. The specifications of the bat will be available but under a new model name, the DJ2, in recognition of Jeter.
Here is the statement from Louisville Slugger:
"Derek has swung one bat model from one bat company his entire career," said James Sass, Director of Professional Baseball Sales for the Louisville, Kentucky-based company. "Derek has made over 12,500 plate appearances in his 20 MLB seasons, and every single one of them has been with a Louisville Slugger P72. With Derek's impending retirement, we thought it was fitting to retire his bat model in recognition of his brilliant career. We are grateful for his enduring and unwavering loyalty. In honor of Derek's tremendous career and impact, we won't be making the P72 anymore."
And the company says it will invoke a grandfather clause to use the P72 name again for any descendent of the player the bat was originally made for, Les Pinkham.
Louisville also said it is giving the final 72 P72 bats to be produced to Jeter to raise funds for his Turn 2 Foundation to promote healthy lifestyles among youth.
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