A recent pick up, this late 19th Century Era bat has been decorated with gold and red rings and inscribed..."Eagle Prize Bat"..."Brooklyn Writers Nine".
Through concerted research and consultation with SABR's 19th Century / Early Bklyn Base Ball experts we're confident that this piece was awarded as a prize to a team of writers from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle sometime in the 1880's.
One source feels its possible that, given his track record with this sort of thing thru the 1860's and 1870's, Henry Chadwick himself "might" have had a hand in the issuance of a prize bat of this kind.
One can dream!!
Jonathan
www.dugouttreasures.com