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Bat man Bonds orders 600 bats to sell after historic home runPosted: Friday August 09, 2002 8:41 PMUpdated: Saturday August 10, 2002 4:18 AM
OTTAWA (AP) -- Barry Bonds hopes his 600th home run brings him more than just admission to one of baseball's most exclusive clubs. The San Francisco Giants' slugger has ordered 600 commemorative bats from his Canadian batmaker, to be sold for nearly $1,000 apiece once Bonds reaches the milestone. Only Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714) and Willie Mays (660) have hit more homers than Bonds. Sam Holman, whose Original Maple Bat Company in Ottawa produces bats for Bonds and 150 other major-leaguers, shipped a sample of the trophy bats earlier this week for Bonds' approval. Each will have "600 HR" stenciled under Bonds' name, and Bonds will autograph each one. They will be numbered, with a certificate of authenticity included. Kent Collectibles, the company that represents Bonds in his memorabilia endorsement deals, is paying Holman about $100 each for the brown-and-black bats. They won't be available until after Bonds hits No. 600, but they're already on sale for $999.98 on the Shop at Home Web site (www.shopathometv.com). "This is not Canadian talk. This is American talk," Holman told the Ottawa Citizen newspaper. "I'm in the wrong business. It's unbelievable, but I'm not licensed to sell his bats." Since Bonds began using Holman's bats in 1998, he has retired every bat used to hit a home run. He keeps most of them for his personal collection but has donated a few to charity. Bonds, who uses a 34-inch, 32-ounce model, went through 126 Sam Bats last season, when he hit a single-season record 73 homers. Holman says it's almost impossible to acquire a bat Bonds has used to hit a homer.
"If you get ahold of one of those bats, expect to pay $10,000
for it," he said.
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