Tris Speaker Horace Partridge World’s Champion Bat

[MCyganik]

Looking for more information/discussion on this insanely beautiful Tris Speaker model bat.

I am a moderate Red Sox bat collector but not super knowledgeable about pre-Depression bats. Acquiring a Horace Partridge bat has been a want of mine for years.

I assume this is a 00TS Tris Speaker model bat from circa 1910-1915, which is documented in a 1918 Horace Partridge catalogue but this center brand lettering is older than the 1918 model. I assume the amazingly preserved decal points it to the early to mid 1910s as well.

What makes this bat special and curious and worth discussion is I can’t find either:

1) the World’s Championship decal in this style on any other HP bat

2) the extra ‘Partridge Boston’ engraved in between the center and decal on any other HP bat

There has been 2 public sales listed of a different HP decal: ‘World’s Championship Bat’ in a red/black scheme, one of which had ‘Speaker’ stamped on the knob but those were listed at 32-33 inches.

This bat is a full 35 inches, which according to the Vince Malta book and prior sales, Speaker historically used a 34.75 to 35 inch bat. Not suggesting it was used by Speaker but it appears to have been used pretty well despite the nearly pristine decal.

According to Malta/Taube et al there appears to be historical precedent from the era with Honus Wagner using a decal bat which was sold as game used on Heritage in 2004/2015.

This bat was somebody’s baby and preserved amazingly well. I am wondering if the decal denotes a special World Series presentation bat given to a player or executive of Horace Partridge, but as I mentioned, it appears to have been used in games.

Any long time experts ever see anything like this before? It’s not for sale, just curious to know what I have. Thanks!