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A.H. Leathers Manufacturing Company
(Leathers) was established in 1879 in
Centre County Pennsylvania and moved to
Dickson Tennessee in 1898. Leathers
initially made items such as tool
handles for picks, axes, etc., and
began manufacturing baseball bats in
the 1920's. Allison Haupt Leathers,
founder, died in 1932 and his children
owned the company until 1955 when Harry
R. Leathers, Jr. purchased the entire
business.
Leathers' flagship baseball bat was the
Dixie Swatter. These were given sub
model designations featuring major
league players' initials on the bats,
connecting to the players, however,
official player endorsements have not
been documented. Overstock promotional
adhesive labels for the Dixie Swatter
featuring the initials B.R. were
rescued from the factory before the
demolition of Leathers' buildings in
1998. The initials B.R. and a familiar
silhouette on the labels suggested a
connection to Babe Ruth.
A number of players initials were used on Dixie Swatter baseball bats that
include MODEL B.R. (Babe Ruth), MODEL
B.T. (Bill Terry), MODEL F.F. (Frank
Frisch), MODEL G.K. (George Kelly) MODEL G.S. (George Sisler),
MODEL K.W. (Ken Williams), MODEL L.G.
(Lou Gehrig). MODEL P.W. (Paul Waner),
MODEL R.H. (Rogers Hornsby), and MODEL
T.C. (Ty Cobb)
The A.H. Leathers line of
baseball bats also included; Commodore,
Volunteer, Indoor No. 31, and AHL. The
company also made a promotional bat for
the Cambridge Rubber Company out of
Massachusetts promoting their Camco
Sneex All American Sport Shoe.
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