This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 6/27/2002.
Considered to be one of the greatest all around players to ever take the field, Willie Mays spent 22 years in the Majors. Over the course of his Hall of Fame career, he appeared in a record tying 24 All Star games, accumulated 11 Gold Gloves, and played in four separate World Series. A model of consistency through out his entire tenure with the Giants and then the Mets, Mays was a solid player right to his last game when he ended his career in 1973. This remarkable bat is surely one of the very last that Mays used in a regular season game during his professional career. The 35 inch, 34 ounce, Adirondak model M63 (script signature) bat is uncracked and shows evidence of light game use. Mays' #24 appears on the knob in faded black marker. The bat has been signed "Best Wishes, Willie Mays, N.Y. Mets, 7 October 1973" with the signature and inscription rating a strong 7 to 8. On that date, the Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-0 at Riverfront Stadium to even the NLCS at one game apiece. Mays retired after the 1973 Fall Classic.