Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

A few years back my wife was walking in the mall, and she saw this bat in the comic store.

APPRAISER

Unsigned.

GUEST

Unsigned, and she says, "Let me get it for my husband because I... he loves baseball." She says that was the sorriest thing she ever did. (laughing)

APPRAISER

I bet, right? This has taken some tremendous work on your part, hasn't it?

GUEST

Oh, definitely.

APPRAISER

How many signatures are on this bat?

GUEST

Three hundred and fifty-seven.

APPRAISER

Wow. And these are all sorts of players from all sorts of eras, correct?

GUEST

All eras, yes.

APPRAISER

Yeah, so who was the first signature you got?

GUEST

My first signature was Mel Allen. He was just as famous as Joe DiMaggio in that time.

APPRAISER

Sure. Tell me, how did you obtain these signatures?

GUEST

My son, I used to take him to the shows with me. Sports cards shows up in New York and New Jersey, and he loved it.

APPRAISER

So which is your favorite signature on here?

GUEST

My favorite is Stan Musial. Stan the Man, right here.

APPRAISER

Who just recently passed, so was he one of your favorite ballplayers?

GUEST

One of my favorites. I think he was the best ballplayer ever. Best hitter ever.

APPRAISER

What did he do when he saw this bat?

GUEST

Well, he looked at it, and he shook my... I shook... I shook everybody's hand that ever signed this bat.

APPRAISER

Wow! That's cool.

GUEST

And I loved it, I still love it.

APPRAISER

There are dozens and dozens of Hall-of-Famers on here. Dozens. A lot of guys who aren't with us anymore. There are a lot of culty ballplayers on here I noticed. So you've really... you know, you've really kind of run the gamut with this thing. There's still a few spaces here, so is this something you're going to continue working on?

GUEST

I'm always working on it.

APPRAISER

So is there one particular signature you would love to get on this bat?

GUEST

Yes, I would love to get Derek Jeter. I live Jeter, and I would love to get him.

APPRAISER

When did you get this? How long has this taken to put together?

GUEST

I'd say about '95.

APPRAISER

What is the most recent signature?

GUEST

The most recent signature I have was Bryce Harper at the Washington training camp, Dusty Baker, and Davey Lopes.

APPRAISER

(laughing): You must stand out.

GUEST

Oh yeah. A lot of guys that were excited signing it. Before they would sign it they would look over the bat. And at Atlantic City, Tom Seaver says to me, "take care of this bat," he goes.

APPRAISER

He knows, because you know, he signs a million things, and he probably doesn't sign anything like this. So I kind of agree with Tom Seaver, I got to say, I think it's a very, very special bat. Now we see multiple-signed things all the time. But something that stands out as striking as this, the fact that it's a white bat that you can really see all the signatures on here, and you've done such a great job and so many interesting players. Do you happen to know how much your wife originally paid for the bat?

GUEST

I think she paid like $60 for it.

APPRAISER

We wouldn't insure it for anything less than $10,000.

GUEST

$10,000. It's unbelievable, wow, very nice. I just love it. It's part of my life, really, it's part of my life.