Hanna Bats
I am a contrarian with respect to these Hanna TA bats as being gamers. This is in part to a looking at the legal case brought by H&B against Hanna as well as bats at the HOF that came from player estates (Gehrig, winged bat center brand) that featured his name GEHRIG stamped on the barrel. Ordering records from Hanna from 1936 indicate that the bats made for the players themselves as part of personal orders would have born their actual names stamped in block letters. These records can be found in Hanna Bat file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Cooperstown, NY.
This would have been allowed by the proceedings of the court case since these stampings where for personal identification on the part of the player, and NOT tied to and other commercial effort. I believe that these “TA” bats are the Hanna equivalent of pro model bats that could have been ordered by major league clubs as “Pro Stock” for use by any player. This would be consistent with the court judgment, explain why they can be seen in period photos, and would be consistent with the branding instructions (post H&B case).
Dave Grob
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