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J.F. Hillerich & Son |
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1893 Newspaper reference |
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Consolidated Illustrating Co. 1895 Publication |
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1900 Louisville Slugger
Copyrighted Bat Ad |
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Simmons Hardware Co.
Catalog Ad |
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| Keymancollectibles.com |
The
Webs Best Recourse for Baseball Memorabilia |
March 27,
2018 |
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Found in a Closet - This J.F. Hillerich & Son Baseball Bat Could Be the
Earliest Slugger to Surface. - Steven KeyMan |
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A, J.F. Hillerich & Son baseball bat with "Copyrighted" below the oval
center brand, instead of the common "Trademark" branding, has recently surfaced. It might
possibly be one of, or the earliest Louisville Slugger known to exist. The bat was found
by Virginia Stinnett in an historic house owned by her family since 1830. "I
don't remember my father mentioning the bat growing up." Said Virginia. "I
found it in the back of our front hall closet in 1989 after my father passed
away. I had forgotten about it until recently."
Virginia's home the "Redwood" was built in 1830 by Nathaniel Pendleton, chief
magistrate and high sheriff of Culpeper County; author and signer of the first
protest against the Stamp Act; captain of the First Regiment of Virginia; and
chairman of the Committee of Safety and Correspondence. During the Civil War,
the Redwood was used for several months as the headquarters of Gen. Rice,
U.S.A., and his staff. Union solders were encamped in the surrounding fields.
General Lee and Longstreet held a conference here. Virginia's father, Capt. John T. S. Kearns, who
inherited this historic house and the contents, was the five-great grandson of Nathaniel
Pendleton.
Twenty-Eight years after finding the bat, Virginia finally decided to see
if the bat had any value, and possibly sell it. A Google search brought her to
the KeyMan Collectibles Louisville Slugger Bat Dating Guide. She couldn't find
any reference to a bat that had "a diamond shape in the middle of a line," or
the Copy Righted branding below the oval, so she contacted me about it. After I
saw the pictures I began my own investigation by scratching my head.
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After doing an extended Google search, while scratching my head, I went
through a number of auction archives, and found nothing like it. Not one bat
that had the Copy Righted branding, the "Dash-Diamond-Dash" feature, and I also
noticed that I couldn't find any bats that had the same branding font. This bat
was not only extremely rare, but unique to any other Louisville Slugger bat
that I have seen in three ways. I contacted the Louisville Slugger Museum to
see if they could shed some light on this bat.
I spoke with Chris Meiman, Curator of the Louisville Slugger Museum &
Factory. He told me that in the museum's collection there were "two bats with
the same kind of font used for the center brand as the Copy Righted bat but with
Trademark below the Oval. "One is an unnamed bat from our former traveling
exhibition and the other is a game-used Hugh Duffy bat we have on display."
Chris
loosely dated both bats "from 1887 up to about 1905," the dating
originally done by Dave Bushing, and re-evaluated in 2012 by Hunt Auctions.
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The branding on both bats also have the unique Dash-Diamond-Dash feature that
makes them unique to all other Louisville Slugger bats. Baseball bats are branded
with Dash-Dot-Dash, until 1921 when it was replaced with "MADE IN U.S.A."
The museum doesn't have good records from before 1920, so as far as the "COPY
RIGHTED" branding goes there is no evidence, or positive explanation to why it was used, in
place of
"TRADEMARK." |
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In lieu of records, and catalogs, we have no choice but to place the
established dating of Louisville Slugger bat branding in chronological order,
then see where the unique features on this Copyrighted bat fits in. Starting
with the Dash-Diamond-Dash feature, it could only predate the Dash-Dot- Dash
branding, which has already been established by mainstream bat dating, to be
used from 1897 to 1921. However, the addition of "Co."
after "J.F. HILLERICH & SON" to the trademark branding in 1916, assures that
the Dash-Diamond-Dash on this J.F. Hillerich & Son was not used after 1916. |
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The font used for the branding on this "Copyrighted" Louisville Slugger
bat, is like no other, with the exception of the two example in the museum. The
use of this font could have overlapped with the standard branding used
thereafter but once the "new" font became a standard trademark branding it is
very unlikely that the older font was revisited. The "Copyrighted" bat font
matching the two earliest examples in the museum, being loosely dated as far
back as 1888, shows that it was the first Louisville Slugger branding used.
I was told by an "expert" in the field of authenticating and dating Game
Used baseball bats that "J.F. Hillerich & Son" branded baseball bats could not
have been made before 1897 because John Andrew "Bud" the son of John Frederick,
did not become a partner until 1897. But, the fact is, as evident by newspaper
references, and illustrations the company was already doing business as "J.F.
Hillerich & Son" as early as 1893, and as stated in an excerpt taken from page
92 of the consolidated Illustrating Co. "Louisville To Day" Mr. J.F. Hillerich
conducted business by himself, "until the year 1888, When he took his son Mr.
J.A. Hillerich in partnership...." This is the year Bud began turning bats.
The name "Louisville Slugger" became the company's registered trademark in
1894, which also points to the fact that "Louisville Slugger" baseball bats
were made before 1897 and because the company was conducting business under the
name "J.F. Hillerich & Son" they were using the companies Trademark Branding.
This would also prove that the original dating of the museum's bat from the
traveling exhibition, and the game-used Hugh Duffy bat to 1887 is wrong. J.F.
Hillerich & Son could not legally use a "Trademark" branding on the bat until
1894. This however could also explain the use of "Copyrighted." |
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COPYRIGHTED * TRADEMARK * TRADE MARK REG U.S. PAT. OFF. * TRADE MARK
REG. |
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Copyright is a form of intellectual property protection provided for
original works of authorship. It is my contention that J.F. Hillerich & Son
Copyrighted the term "Louisville Slugger" before it became a registered
trademark, explaining the use of "COPYRIGHTED" on the bat. This also means that
this Copyrighted baseball bat predates the two "Trademark" bats in the
museum. Evidence that "Louisville Slugger" was a registered copyright is shown
in a Simmons Hardware Company bat advertisement published in 1900. The ad shows in print "The
Louisville Slugger" with (Copyrighted) below.
Mike of the
Shoeless Joe Jackson
Virtual Hall of Fame website, a longtime collector of game used bats
noted that he had come across a few of these rare "Dash-Diamond-Dash bats over
the years with this style font. Before seeing my study, the bats were roughly
dated to before the 1900's using provenance through family ownership. Mike came to
the exact conclusion as I, that the Dash-Diamond-Dash bats were from about
1888-1896. He also feels that the branding was changed in 1897. He only seen
one other of the extremely rare Copyrighted bat which he also believes predate
the Trademark bats. That makes only two known examples of the Copyrighted bat. |
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This Bat is currently being
auctioned
at GoldenAuctions.com |
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