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Hilton Collins Company
Baseball Bat |
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Item Details |
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MANUFACTURING PERIOD
1918-1927
MANUFACTURER
Hilton Collins Co.
Louisville, Kentucky
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In 1896 Hilton Collins purchased land
at Ormsby and 12th Street, in
Louisville Kentucky, where he would
build a factory for the production of
Singletree, Doubletree, Neck Yoke and
irons. In 1918 the Hilton Collins Co.
Inc. had gone into the manufacture of
baseball bats placing a considerable
portion of its plant at the disposal of
the bat turning department. Competing
with Hillerich & Bradsby Co. Louisville
Slugger for the local market, Hilton
Collins held many promotions at Eclipse
Park stadium, home of the Louisville
Colonels.
In a 1919 promotion, when a player on the Louisville Colonels of the
American Association hit a home run,
with a Mascot bat they received $10.
from the Hilton Collins Co. In 1923
Louisville Colonels player & future
Yankees HOF'er Earl Combs won $5, for
scoring the first run on opening day.
By 1920 Hilton Collins gained wide
prominence with Major league
ballplayers. Hilton Collins made
baseball bats exclusively for Fred
Nicholson "runner up for the 1920
batting tittle" (batted .360 only 247
AB). It was noted in ads that Hilton
Collins had two leading models in the
National League in 1920. NL Batting
champ Rogers Hornsby (.370) also used
the Louisville Mascot Bat.
In 1923 Hilton Collins expanded the factory. Using the slogan "Makes Happy
Batters and Happy Dealers too," the
company had exclusive rights to
manufacture the Hornsby model, the
style Hornsby uses was the leading bat
for 1923. Not able to break the
stronghold that Louisville slugger had
on the market Hilton Collins went up
for sale in August of 1927. In
September all the company's
furnishings, forge shop, woodworking
machinery, and tennis racket
manufacturing equipment was auctioned
off.
The Hilton Collins line of
baseball bats include:
No. 1, No 19 (International decal)
BIFFER, and PEP models, The
companies flagship Louisville Mascot
decal bats, Famous Players and
autograph models included: FP 100, FP130, 210,
FP220 Rogers Hornsby, FP240 A. E. Ellis, FP290 "Buck" Herzog,
FP300 Tim Hendryx, FP310 Jim Bottomley,
FP325 Jack Fournier, FP355 Taylor Douthit, Famous
Players Model 213, Big League Model 3,
8 (with "Flame tempered Home Run Area"
& "Home Run Spot")
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Hilton Collins Company
of Louisville Baseball Bat |
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KEYMAN COLLECTIBLES
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