Willie-Mays
Bat used by both Willie Mays and Willie McCovey up for bid at Huggins & Scott
Willie Mays and Willie McCovey formed one of the most prolific home run tandems in MLB history, combining to slug 801 home runs during their 13 years together with the San Francisco Giants.
Their career home run totals while playing together rank third behind only Braves teammates Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews and Yankees legends Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.
Mays and McCovey played together from 1959 until Mays was traded to the Mets in 1972. Together, they led the Giants to 13 straight winning seasons, including the 1962 World Series and the 1971 National League Championship Series.
They were also great friends off the field. They often roomed together on the road and McCovey even accompanied Mays on his first date with his future wife.
They also shared the same bat during the 1971 season and part of 1972. That game-used bat is now up for bid in the Huggins & Scott Spring Auction.
The H&B bat, measuring 35 inches and 32.8 ounces, was ordered by McCovey, features his engraved name and shows characteristics of use by the big slugger. Yet the bat, from the personal collection of Hall of Fame umpire Doug Harvey, also shows evidence of use by Mays as well.
Authenticated by PSA/DNA, the bat originally had McCovey’s number 44 on the handle. It was later modified to 24, Mays’ number. According to the provenance, Mays also used the size and model bats through 1972.
“Both McCovey and Mays did use bats with a mid-to-upper handle pine tar application and bats of each player in our database have ball marks on the left, right and back barrel,” PSA’s LOA states. “It's our opinion, the bat was used by both players, to what extent by each we cannot determine.”
The auction, which runs through April 6, also includes a 1920s era Spalding Star baseball signed by Babe Ruth. Though the Star model ball can be traced to the 1927 season, Huggins & Scott says Ruth likely signed the ball later due to the absence of his early-style quote marks around the name “Babe.” The ball comes with a mostly-intact original retail box for the ball.
Also up for bid are a rare 1938 George Burke portrait-style photo of Lou Gehrig; a ticket stub from Tiger Woods’ 1996 pro debut; a PSA-graded 1948 Satchel Paige Leaf rookie card; a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle; and a 1957-1958 Topps Bill Russell rookie card.
