1977-79 Thurman Munson Game Used Bat, PSA/DNA GU 9.5....

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Sold on Feb 21, 2015 for:

$13,145.00 Bid Source: Live: Floor bidder

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A stellar representation from the tragic Yankee captain

1977-79 Thurman Munson Game Used Bat, PSA/DNA GU 9.5. Two years of glory, one year of sadness. The three-season production range of the provided signature model Hillerich & Bradsby S44 assures some form of elite historical significance, a term that followed back-to-back World Championships with the brand of despair that only Gehrig's departure four decades earlier could match. Munson's death several hundreds yards short of a Canton, Ohio runway on August 2, 1979, just six days short of the ten-year anniversary of his Major League debut, brought an end to the life and career of one of the most beloved Yankees of the post-war era and marked the beginning of an uncommonly long and difficult era of struggle for the sport's most successful franchise.

This key relic from that historic age of transition is one of just a handful of known late-career Munson bats, and at a PSA/DNA assessment of GU 9.5, arguably the finest. All the requisite Munson details are present and accounted for: the heavy pine tar, the cleat marks from Munson's established practice of knocking clay from his spikes, blue Yankee Stadium rack streaks (and red as well). Multiple ball marks and stitch impressions abound, and a handle crack has been professionally repaired. A faded number "15" appears in marker on the knob.

Length of thirty-five inches (35") and weight of thirty-one and a half ounces (31.5 oz.) are correct for Munson's factory ordering records, the finally evidence considered in assignment of a nearly unimprovable PSA/DNA GU 9.5 rating. But, of course, the true value and importance of this offering is impossible to convey numerically, a mute witness to a Bronx age when anything, both glorious and heartbreaking, was possible. LOA from PSA/DNA, GU 9.5.

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