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This "Our Acme J.P. HDW. Co."
baseball bat was made for the John Pritzlaff
Hardware Company. Founded by John C. Pritzlaff in 1850,
it soon became the largest hardware
company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their
wholesale merchandise catalog included;
mechanics tools, roofing & electrical
supplies, harness hardware, builders
hardware, paints, appliances, house
furnishings, cutlery, stationery, guns,
ammunition, automobile tires, bicycles,
fishing tackle, and sporting goods.
Their catalog business pre-dates even
Sears Roebuck. The company closed in
1958.
The John Pritzlaff Hardware company catalog featured baseball equipment
which included Louisville Slugger
baseball bats. This 34" Acme bat is
extremely rare and other examples are
hard to find. With the lack of catalog
information, the bat is loosely dated
by the style of the knob. In 1903 the
A.G. Spalding & Bros. patented the
Mushroom knob baseball bat. J.F. Hillerich & Son, followed in
1905 with the "Ball Balanced" baseball
bat. The knob was designed to provide a
bat that was properly balanced, and
therefore easier for a player to
manipulate. The "acorn knob" on the
Acme bat would fit into the same time
frame, 1903-1911, or there about filing
out the decade.
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