Bill Hendricks jiggled the century-old bat in his hands and gaped.
“He swung this heavy thing!” said the Scott Township resident.
Yes, Honus Wagner not only swung the 41½-ounce piece of ash, he boiled it in creosote, says its owner, Andy Castellanos of Parkland, Fla.
On Friday, the bat collector brought the antique back to Carnegie, Wagner’s hometown. The bat was scheduled to be on on display at the Carnegie Historical Society, 1 W. Main St., from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
By 12:30 p.m. Friday, a half-dozen people had stopped by to see and hold the relic. Most were locals who had grown up listening to stories of the burly, bow-legged son of a coal miner who learned baseball on local sandlots, played shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates and was among the first players inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Though that shrine has items that belonged to Wagner, it doesn’t have anything quite like this bat, which Mr. Castellanos bought three years ago on eBay for $6,000 from a man in Youngstown, Ohio. Mr. Castellanos tried to sell the bat in an online auction last year but decided the $45,000 high bid was not enough.
“It’s priceless,” he said, because it’s more than a bat used by a hall-of-famer. It appears to be a template used by Hillerich & Bradsby to make all of Wagner’s bats. The company that now goes by the name Louisville Slugger has confirmed that the circular marks on both ends were likely left by its lathes.
Even more unique is the black substance staining the barrel. Mr. Castellanos had it analyzed in a laboratory and the results show it is creosote containing coal tar. Wagner, who worked in the mines as a young man, was known to preserve his bats by boiling them in tar made from the black veins running beneath his hometown.
Mr. Castellanos, who brought along his son, also named Andy, said he looked forward to visiting the house on Railroad Avenue where Wagner grew up and the one on Beechwood Avenue where he lived for most of his life.
“It’s a surreal type of thing to think that I’m in his hometown with this bat,” he said. “He’s one of the best players ever.”
Kevin Kirkland: kkirkland@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1978.
First Published: September 2, 2017, 12:25 a.m.
Updated: September 2, 2017, 12:32 a.m.
