SF Giants List of Bat Days 1960s/70s - Day of Issue?
 

Still Googling this ... I'm looking for a list of SF Giants bat days at Candlestick Park between 1965-1971. I still have the bats (little league mostly ... McCovey, Burda, Kaline...) so wanted to see if I could find the dates of issue for these bats. All the bats were the ones I got at the games at Candlestick sometime between 65-71. Unfortunately I don't have the original score cards for those games but think it would be cool to find scored score cards for those games as companion pieces for the bats too :-) Thought maybe some of you bat folks might know where to find such info? Thanks.

OK ... after doing a little more sleuthing ... it appears beginning in 1969 the Giants noted bat days next to the schedule in their Yearbooks. So I have Saturday, April 26, 1969 & Saturday, April 17, 1971 for bat days per my yearbooks. Does anyone have a 1970 Giants yearbook they can check for the scheduled bat day that year? I don't have that yearbook. I'm pretty sure that Saturday, May 13, 1967 was bat day ... per a little detective work. So here are what I have so far:

Saturday, May 13, 1967
Saturday, April 26, 1969
Saturday, April 17, 1971

Thus I'm missing Giants bat days for 1965, 1966, 1968 & 1970. Not sure anyone cares ... but thought I'd share :-) Thanks.

PS: Is there any identifying marks on a Little League Bat Day bat from the 1960's that would identify it further as per when it may have been issued at the stadium? Also ... does anyone remember if they used to issue more than one player bat during bat days at the stadium ... back in the 1960's/early 1970's? I just don't remember :-(

1968 and 1970 Bat Day
 

In 1966, it was on April 30,1966 vs. the Cardinals

Bat Day in 1968 was originally set for June 8, 1968 against the Mets but the game was cancelled after RFK was killed... it was rescheduled for June 29

The 1970 Bat Day was April 25, 1970 against Montreal.

I think (not sure) they would have various bats. Not sure how these kids all managed to get three bats each.

Thanks Bob ... much appreciated. Interesting about the 1968 canceling due to RFK. I remember some seminal events from my childhood in SF, like earthquakes & Apollo 11, etc. But for some reason I don't remember the night RFK was killed. Usually I'd pick up a vibe from my parents. For instance when JFK was assassinated my Mom was watching TV and she started crying. As a kid that really freaked me out. I'll never forget that. Anyway ... thanks for the additional bat day dates!

I think your right Rob. Now that I think about it ... it doesn't make sense only one player bat. Must be many player bats. Funny ... I saw that same pic in my yearbook and thought the same thing. How'd they get three bats when always only got one! :-) Maybe they got them from park attendants or something as they were leaving the game.

In case anyone else cares ... here are all the bat day dates from 1966-1971 at "The Stick":

Saturday, April 30,1966
Saturday, May 13, 1967
Saturday, June 29, 1968
Saturday, April 26, 1969
Saturday April 25, 1970
Saturday, April 17, 1971

I was 8 years old at the time, all I remember about RFK was the train trip from NYC to DC and how so many people lined the tracks to say goodbye.....

These are bats from Yankees Bat Days...most are the ones I got and I picked up a few at flea markets...

from top:

Thurman Munson
Horace Clarke
Bob Oliver
Frank Baker
Steve Whitaker
Bobby Murcer
Tom Tresh
Ron Blomberg
Mickey Mantle

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...bb785b78_c.jpg

More:

Sun. 4/23/72
Sat. 4/14/73
Sat. 4/6/74
Sun. 4/27/75
Sun. 5/1/77
Sun. 4/23/78

Couldn’t find 1976

At Yankee Stadium each year there is one players bat given away.

Nice! I love that Steve Whitaker has one :-) Those are definitely in better shape than mine. Unfortunately I hit rocks with one bat at some point :-( All the others just need some cleaning. Hope to get to that this weekend!

Thanks Rob. I think the turf changed at Candlestick around 71/72? Don't know what made me think of that other than when I see those dates I can picture all those astroturf stadiums of the 1970's!

Hmmm ... maybe they DID only give away one player bat at Candlestick during the 1960's. One bat I have is of Bob Burda. I'm trying to picture 20,000-40,000 Bob Burda bats at the stadium that day ... actually ... that would be pretty cool :-) Unfortunately I have no Willie Mays bat. But I do have a McCovey ... which is really just as cool as I was a big "Stretch" fan!

My Giants collecting buddy has a bunch...

The following all have a cursive signature and are center labeled "Made in USA":
Jesus Alou
Bobby Bonds (2 sizes of sig)
Orlando Cepeda
Dick Dietz
Tito Fuentes
Tom Haller
Ken Henderson
Dave Kingman
Harold Lanier*
Gary Maddox
Dave Marshall
Gary Matthews
Jack Hiatt

cursive, "Made in Canada":
Bob Burda
Dick Dietz
Ken Henderson
Ron Hunt
Don Mason

block letters, all are "Made in USA":
Jim Davenport
Bob Barton
Jim Davenport
Jim Ray Hart*
Willie Mays*
Willie McCovey

All say "Approved Little League ~ San Francisco Giants (usually block; sometimes cursive) ~ player name," although the order (top, middle, bottom) changes. * denotes players with "Approved Little League" seen in different orders.

Go get 'em!

P.S.he has some duplicates if you're interested...

When we were going in the late 60s-early 70s, they had different players.

Our first year going... 1968??, my brother got a Mantle bat and I got a Roy White..

My buddy’s Giants hoard has more bats than Bat Days...

Wow ... that's a lot of bats! Not interested in picking up anymore at the moment. Hoping this weekend to clean up what I have and start researching them a little. I was hoping to maybe figure out what game each bat was given away so I'd know what game I attended. Having the list of bat days is a start :-)

I have an Al Kaline I thought I'd gotten at a Giants bat day, but not positive. It looks like my other bat day bats. Maybe I got it at an A's bat day. We saw a few A's games including at least one game in 1968. I still have the program .. with a photo of Reggie :-)

:-) Just remembered a story my Dad used to tell about taking my Cub Scout Troop to a Giants bat day. My Dad was a pretty easy going guy but he said he couldn't relax to watch the game for one minute for fear that one of us scouts was going to clobber some fan in the head with one of our bats. I guess we were practicing our swings during the game :-)