Lou Gehrig 1932 Hillerich & Bradsby 125 Powerized bone rubbed Pro Model Used Signature Model bat (not signed) Up for auction is a Lou Gehrig Pro Model Bat. The bat was manufactured by Hillerich & Bradsby. The bat is a 1932 Powerized and Bone Rubbed model as confirmed by the Powerized and Bone Rubbed stampings. This style was only produced in 1932. The bat is 36’ long and its current weight is 35 ounces. The bat shows signs of game use. While Gehrig’s typical length was 35” and 35.5” 1932 was an exception as his length of choice was 36”. This is confirmed not by an entry in an ordering log at the bat factory but by two pieces of empirical evidence.#1 1932 Sidewritten Bat – There was a sidewritten bat that Gehrig returned to the Louisville factory the summer of 1932. That bat compares favorably to the bat up for auction in that it was a 36”, 35.5-ounce specimen. The bat was sold by Leland’s Auctions and the write up of the bat in part is as follows: 36” Burke Batrite by Hanna Manufacturing Company was used by the Iron Horse for the 1932 season. Written on the side is the vintage grease pencil notation, “7-29-32, H.L. Gehrig” indicating it was returned to the factory by Gehrig after he used it. The pride of the Yankees batted .349 that season and belted 34 home runs. One can surmise that this bat was sent by Gehrig to Hillerich and Bradsby to produce a similar Louisville Slugger model.#2 Gehrig Confirms He Used 36” Bats – Louisville Slugger brought a suit against Hanna Batrite and Gehrig was brought into testify where he stated “…From my first entering professional baseball until the present time I have had five or six different models. The changes were mostly made between the years 1923 and 1926. Some bats had thicker handles, some had thinner handles; some had larger barrels, some had less larger barrels. Others were longer. Some had a know on them some didn’t. Throughout the season of 1932 I used a bat 36 inches long and varying in weight between 36 and 37 ounces” An interesting note: Gehrig liked the Batrite bats because as he went on to say during his testimony,” I found them satisfactory. I used them because they had peculiarities of treatment or finish which seemed to be advantageous to my mind. I haven’t any idea what the treatment was. It stopped checking, which is the loosening of the grain of bats which makes it impossible to use further.” The treatment to which Gehrig is referring is known as the “steel tempered” finish. It is reported that Hanna invented a sealant to prevent checking and cracking on baseball bats and a similar formula known as “Powerized” was used by Louisville Slugger starting in 1932.Summary: The Batrite bat which was returned to Louisville to be used as a template for ordering bats. This matches Gehrig’s own testimony where he indicated he used bats 36” long with weights varying between 36 and 37 ounces. The bat up for auction is 36” long and weighs 35 ounces which based on bats losing weight over the years is an acceptable range. One can easily conclude that the bat up for auction was produced for Gehrig to sample. Another key fact is that the bat up for auction has a classic small knob which Gehrig used up to September of 1933 when he switched to the larger Ruth knob.

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