Baseball is commonly associated with the American 1920s and 30s, a time of great change, great pain, and the need for a great pastime. But you may be surprised to learn that baseball goes back to the 1840s! Before America had even fought its Civil War, baseball was popular enough to be a mania. Once the war ended, the sport solidified into a more structured game with rules and eventually a competitive circuit.
Many of the most revered sportsmen in history were baseball players in the sport’s heyday, including the heaviest hitters of them all – Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Joe Jackson. You can be sure you’ll see them on this list. And what’s a hitter without a now-infamous bat? Continue reading to learn about the 8 most expensive baseball bats ever sold, artifacts of the giants who made the sport what it is.
One rule before we start: only one bat per player! And with that …
- Joe DiMaggio Bat
- Adrian “Cap” Anson Bat
- Jackie Robinson Bat
- Kirk Gibson Bat
- Joe Jackson Bat
- Ty Cobb Bat
- Lou Gehrig Bat
- First Baseball Bat – Babe Ruth
Year: 1941
Sold: 2018
photo source: Goldin auctions
This Joe DiMaggio bat from his 1941 season represents perhaps the greatest streak in the sport’s history, as part of his unbelievable fifty-six games of consecutive hits, with that .262 batting average. To accomplish this feat, DiMaggio used three bats. This is one of them.
It was bought for $345,596 and rests in the Hillerich & Bradsby Museum. It’s located in Louisville, Kentucky and every year gives thousands of young fans the chance to see a piece of history with this bat.
Did you know?
It’s hard to know sometimes which bats were used for which seasons. The way they deduced the history of this one was with a spectroscopy, which revealed trace amounts of olive oil on the bat. What does that mean? Well, DiMaggio was quoted as saying once that he’d get a dozen bats, swing with them all, and when one just felt right, he’d work it down into his personal bat by dipping it in olive oil and resin and sanding it down smooth. Decades later, the presence of olive oil is the telltale sign.
Year: 1897
Sold: 2016
photo source: Goldin auctions
The oldest bat on this list is the last game-used bat in the final Major League season of Adrian Anson, the captain of the Chicago Colts. Anson or “Cap” used this bat in 1897. He reached 3,000 career hits before any other player in history as he led the Colts to five championships in the span of his career.
Even today, the Chicago franchise has never beaten his records for runs and hits. It should be no surprised then that Cap was admitted into the Hall of Fame on its first round in 1939. This bat sold for $349,837.50.
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Cap was 45 years old when he played his final game. But he started 26 years earlier, playing for the Rockford Forest Citys and then the Chicago White Stockings, which later became known as the Colts, though you may know them best as the Cubs. Cap is not only one of the best players to ever swing a bat – he’s also regarded as the sport’s first real superstar.
Year: 1947
Sold: 2016
photo source: Heritage Auctions
In 2016, this 1947 bat from none other than the great Jackie Robinson sold for $478,000. For the era when Jackie was swinging (1947-1956), his bats are by far the most valuable, though if you made this list longer, you’d start to see Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle making a showing too. Robinson’s bats frequently sell for $150,000 or more, but this one was special.
Robinson made his debut with his H&B endorsement in 1946, meaning these bats bore a design unique to that era of his career, including his signature.
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Robinson’s bats are hefty, around the 35-ounce range. They have thick handles, small knobs, and sometimes feature Robinson’s iconic “42” on the knob itself, usually painted in black, which was common for Dodgers bats from this era. The bat may look oddly bare to some – this is because it lacks the tape on the handle, the scoring and grooving, and the pine tar commonly applied to players’ bats. Jackie preferred to use it as it came.
Year: 1988
Sold: 2010
photo source: Sports Collectors Daily
The newest bat on this list comes by way of Game 1 in the World Series (1988) when the Dodgers were flung into their upset victory with Kirk Gibson leading the way. Several items consigned in 2010 to SCP Auctions pulled in a ton of money, all memorabilia from that fateful game. But the catch of the night was Kirk Gibson’s bat, which sold for $575,912.
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The auction was rife with memorabilia from the 1988 World Series. It included Gibson’s batting helmet, which sold for $153,388.80, World Series trophy, which took in $45,578.40, and Most Valuable Player Award ($110,293.20). The real catch other than the bat though was Gibson’s series jersey, which sold for $303,277.20.
Year: 1911
Sold: 2014
photo source: Heritage Auction
A New York City auction in 2014 saw a couple of incredible baseball artifacts sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The stars of the evening were Joe Jackson’s 1911 bat, the second oldest bat on this list. In 1911, Jackson was only a rookie. He’d probably be amused to learn that his huge 35-inch bat from that season made more money than he ever did at a salary of around $6,000 a season, selling in 2014 for $956,000.
Jackson was a poor, illiterate child growing up in the South and these humble origins earned him the name “Shoeless Joe Jackson,” something you may remember from the movie, Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner. Unfortunately, Jackson lost his whole career when he threw the 1919 World Series and was banned from baseball forever. It didn’t stop him from becoming known as the greatest hitter who ever lived (or “natural hitter,” as they say).
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Other items that sold at the same auction include a 1923 World Series commemorative pocket watch owned by Babe Ruth, which sold for $717,000, and the boxing gloves Ali wore when he beat Sonny Liston in their 1964 match, which sold for $836,500.
Year: 1919-1922
Sold: 2021
photo source: PSA Blog
In March of 2021, this bat belonging to the Detroit Tigers’ famous centerfielder, Ty Cobb, sold in a private transaction for $1.1 million. The seller and buyer never revealed themselves, but the sale is as legendary as the bat.
The detail and level of preservation of this bat led the PSA memorabilia graders to give it GU 10, their highest rating. The bat dates back to 1919-1922, weighs 40 ounces, and measures 34.5 inches long.
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The bat displays a ton of history on the outside. On the back barrel, the deep cleat impressions and black coloration are a Cobb signature feature, as is the residue of tobacco juice. The bat was taped in a wide spiral pattern across the grip and was frequently coated in Neatsfoot oil to enhance his grip.
Year: 1922
Sold: 2020
photo source: Antiques and Hearts
This 1922 Lou Gehrig Bat sold at a Heritage Auction in New York in 2020. The final sale price was a staggering $1.14 million, making it one of the three most expensive bats ever sold. The bat is nicknamed “Bat Zero” because it was used by Gehrig before he joined the Yankees in 1924. This means that this is the bat that Gehrig asked them to use as a model for his branded bats after that.
The bat is 40 ounces, making it one of the larger bats you could have used. After Heritage traced it through contracts and player records to Gehrig’s 1922 season, they knew they had a showstopper on their hands.
Did you know?
This bat is not actually the most expensive Lou Gehrig memorabilia ever sold. That honor goes to his 1937 jersey, one of four to have existed from that time, which sold at an auction in August 2019 for $2.58 million.
Year: 1923
Sold: 2004
photo source: PSA Blog
The most expensive baseball bat is the First Baseball Bat. This bat is a monster Louisville Slugger, clocking in at 46 ounces, used to hit the first home run ever at Yankee Stadium in 1923. The barrel has an inscription that refers to the “Boy Home Run King,” in reference to the Babe. The bat sold for $1.265 million at an auction in 2004, making it the most expensive ever sold.
The bat is 36 inches of ash and defined the stadium that would become known as “The House that Ruth Built.” Victor Orsatti received the bat as a gift back in 1923 and kept it until he died over 60 years later.
Did you know?
It would make this list a bit redundant to list all the high-selling Babe Ruth bats out there, which is why we limited it to one per player. Other high-priced Ruth bats include a 1929 bat ($1,000,800), 1921 bat (930,000), another 1921 bat ($717,000), and a 1927 bat ($660,000).
The Takeaway
The game of baseball is defined by great players and great players are defined by their bats. The different lengths, weights, taping, grooves, inscriptions, oils, and more differentiate one bat from another as clearly as a signature. Owning one of the most venerated bats in history, essentially buying a historical artifact, could costs hundreds of thousands of dollars or even millions. To a baseball superfan, this is a list of 8 holy grails.
