UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, April 25, 1996
5B
Dilbert By Scott Adams
One legendary endorsement
Louisville Slugger museum features initial $100 contract signed by Babe Ruth himself
The Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — When the new $3 million Slugger Museum opens here in July, it will include an item that puts in perspective the modern era of escalating player salaries and multimillion-dollar endorsements.
Bill Williams, executive director of Hillerich & Bradsby, the company that makes Louisville Slugger bats, was digging through a box full of old trademark files looking for items to put in the museum when he came across a prize.
In one of the files containing records of the company's contracts with players, Williams found an envelope postmarked July 26, 1918, and mailed from Chicago's famous Hotel Metropole to "Mr. Bradsby, Louisville Base Ball Bats."
Inside was a letter, a list of signatures and a Louisville Slugger contract — all signed by George Herman "Babe" Ruth.
The handwritten letter, dated July 20, 1918, actually is a thank-you note in which Ruth tells Frank W. Bradsby, the company's head of sales from 1912 to 1937, how much he appreciates the $100 the batmatter offered him in exchange for the use of his signature.
"That was a lot of money back then," Williams said.
Ruth also asks for some of the R43 bats that helped him through his legendary career:
"The signature on your bats I would gladly do for $100, but I don't want the heavy model. I want the first model. If this is satisfactory to you, let me know and I will send you my signature — and would you send me a couple of those models I am referring to, your truly Babe Ruth."
The letter is a treasure in itself. Edward Lewis, a memorabilia appraiser for the Collectors Sports Gallery in Orland Park, Ill., said it was worth more than $20,000.
The attached list is dated July 9,1918,and reads simply:
Your check received, and I thank you very much.
Yours very truly." The short message is followed by six autographs by "George H. Ruth."
The contract is typed and gives E'illerich & Bradsby "the exclusive and sole right to the use of my name and photograph on base ball bats, the sa me to be registered as their trademark." The contract is followed by seven more Ruth signatures.
The company needs multiple signatures from players to put them on bats in the manufac turing process. The signatures first are transferred onto brass plates, which are then heated and used like cattle brands to burn the autographs into the bats.
All those signature plates will be on display on the museum dedicated to the history and making of the famous wooden bats. Among the items featured will be the bat Ty Cobb used in his final season in 1928 and a cracked Ruth bat with 21 home-run notices believed to be used by the slugger in 1927, the year he hit 60 home runs.
Williams said the museum's pri ncipal challenge was appealing to casual fans as well as aficionados.
"We've got a lot of ground to cover," said Williams, who has worked for Hillerich & Bradsby for 25 years. "We know there'll be some peop le who want to argue about every stat and every date and every bat length and weight.
"But we would also like to get people who don't know a lot about baseball. We don't wan at them to come into a museum that is so statistically o verwelhming that they say, 'Well, this is for the birds.'"
The Louisville Slugger catalog has items ranging from bats to hockey sticks to golf clubs. The company also produced 1.5 million aluminum bats last year.
But Williams said the museum was mostly dedicated to the origins of the wooden boats and their effect on professional baseball.
"This is a museum about hit ters. There's nothing in here about pitching or base-s-tealing," said Williams. "It's about baseball and our relationship with it. We don't have to strain to see this relationship because we're so close to the game.
"We're going to have a histor, y wall that will follow the history of baseball, and we'll have a Louisville Slugger timeline right below that. You begin to see that the two are really tied together."
Who's next after Bruce Sutter, Lee Smith, Tom Henke and Eckersley, who's still mowing them down at age 41? The most likely candidate is T.J. Mathews, who has all of three career saves.
Manager Tony La Russa is already grooming him. In one recent game he chose him instead of Eckersley, well-rested and also warmed and ready, because he's better at holding runners on base.
ST.LOUIS — Dennis Eckersley is the latest in a line of great closers to play for the St. Louis Cardinals. The next guy to hold down the job probably won't come with a ready-made reputation.
Imagine Mathews' surprise.
"Dennis and I were both ready to go," Mathews said. "I was kind of relaxed, until the phone call. I was getting ready to go sit down. My heart was racing pretty good and I was nervous running out there, too." He was not too surprised to nail down his first save.
Cardinals grooming closer for the future
Mathews has struggled the last two nights. He gave up a three-run home run Monday and took his first loss Tuesday when pinch hitter Moises Alou homered off him with one out in the ninth inning to give Montreal a 12-11 victory.
Still, it was the first earned run he has allowed in 13 2/3 innings of relief.
Most of the time, Mathews has been the set-up man for Eckersley, who has four saves and also has yet to allow a run in 10/2/3 innings.
Eckersley also has been impressed. He said Mathews, 26, has the ability to follow in the footsteps of the Cardinals' 300-save club members.
"Sure, he can," Eckersley said. "Setting me up or pitching in games that are tied on the road is tougher than pitching in save situations, really, so that's where you learn how to pitch."
Mathews, a native of nearby Belleville, Ill., began 1995 at Triple A Louisville where he had a team-high nine victories and a 2.70 ERA in 32 games, seven of them starts.
The Associated Press
The numbers got even better after he joined the Cardinals in late July as the replacement to Ken Hill, who was traded to Cleveland. In 23 games he was 1-1 with a 1.52 ERA.
The set-up role seemed to suit him.
He's not in a hurry to take control.
"Whenever it happens," Mathews said. "It'll set up for a guy like Dennis Eckersley for the next 10 years if that's what it entails. He's a great pitcher and he's proven he's the best out there."
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