This bat is a store/show model bat that was marketed by a company called Anaconda-Kaye during the 1986-89 era. They produced bats with these markings of both Rickey Henderson and Bo Jackson.
While some of these were sold to the public, the large "LOUISVILLE" stamp on the back of the barrel was placed on certain players' bats for the playoffs and World Series in 1989. Louisville Slugger thought this was a great way to advertise for free on TV. So, some of the bats were sold to the public and some of the bats were issued to players for their use in the 1989 playoffs and World Series. I have a Rickey Henderson 1989 playoffs/World Series bat like this that Rickey used during those post-season games with very good use, for example. I've never seen a Bo Jackson one before, but I believe these were made for other players, too. I'll email Vince Malta and ask them for the complete history. Vince told me a very interesting story once about how Louisville used a super-large oval (center-brand) label on players' bats for the World Series one year (I forget which year off hand, but I have a record of it somewhere) for the same purpose: free advertising! I saw a nice example of one once (it was one of Vince's W.S. bats) and it looked really weird...I actually thought it was non-gamer at first until Vince told me the history of it.
I was told these were made for a few players but Bo Jackson's DID NOT make it to the stores. I was told that Bo used these in the 1989 All-star game and I found a picture of him using one. John Taube looked at the one I have for sale and said it was a "good bat". I'll see if I can find my notes on who the other players were that these were made for besides Jackson and Henderson.
Mark
This message has been edited by ecky3 on Jun 29, 2005 12:43 AM
Vince Malta address this on pages 50-51 of his book Bats. It states on page 51 that "Note that the jumbo LOUISVILLE lettering appears on the back side of the barrel. This jumbo lettering appears on authentic pro model individual 1989 All Star and post season bats, as well as the two player's bats offered by Anaconda-Kaye."
I beleive this was one of the things that lead to Louisville Slugger bats for 1990 being produced with NO barrel markings as to manufacturer and the subsequent team names added for 1991..
Thanks ... yes, I'm home now and those pages are marked with a post-it (my BATS book has a bunch of post-it notes and email inserts from correspondence with Vince, Mike Specht, and others over the years). Forgot that these bats were used in the All Star Game (makes sense, of course, as it is consistent with the goal of free advertising). Haven't had to refer to those pages in a while. I do see where Rickey and Bo are specifically named. This is why having a good reference library is important (and why this forum is fun and important, of course). I'm still looking for a copy of your book on Reds uniforms, Dave. Any help out there? I'll pay top dollar to add this to my library.
I have Von Hayes' 1989 All Star bat. It too has the huge LOUISVILLE in black on the back of the barrel. When I showed it to Von and asked for an autograph on it, he was quite surprised that it ever got out, and remembered using it specifically for the 1989 All Star game.
I have NEVER seen another Von Hayes bat like it, and it is one of the scarcer Phillies All Star bats in my collection.
Thanks for the anecdote. It doesn't surprise me that Von reacted that way. The bats are scarce. Even with Anaconda-Kaye selling some of the Rickey and Bo models, I have only known of two Rickeys and one Bo (the Bo that started this thread!). I have seen a couple of these for other players over the years, but they turn up quite infrequently. Bats with the large LOUISVILLE stamp on the back of the barrel for players like Von would be even fewer in number and harder to find, I would imagine. Rickey, for example, played in the All Star Game, post-season/playoffs, and World Series in 1989. Most of the players who had these bats issued to them only played in one of these (i.e., just All Star Game or just playoffs).
