Cobb bat from rookie season sells for $1.075M

The earliest known Ty Cobb bat sold for $1,074,544 on Sunday night, Grey Flannel Auctions announced.

When Cobb first played for the Detroit Tigers as a rookie in 1905, he was 18. The specific branding on the bat — a Hillerich & Bradsby C28 — was used from 1900 to 1905. It received a PSA/DNA grade of a perfect 10, complete with a letter of authenticity.

It isn’t the most expensive bat ever sold at auction; that belongs to the Babe Ruth bat responsible for the first home run in the original Yankee Stadium, sold for $1.3 million at auction in 2004. It’s not the most expensive Cobb bat, either; a bat Cobb used for seven seasons — including his last professional season — sold for $1.1 million in March 2021.

However, Grey Flannel asserts that the Cobb bat is one of only five to have ever eclipsed the $1 million threshold. A bat Jackie Robinson used in the 1949 All-Star Game sold for $1.08 million earlier this year. In the same auction, another Cobb bat sold for $207,142.

Cobb was known for rubbing tobacco juice on his bat to keep out moisture.