Williams, Robinson, and their Louisville Sluggers
The Louisville Slugger Museum recently opened a new exhibit showcasing 32 historic baseball contracts signed by the game’s greatest, including Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese. The exhibit, entitled, “Safe at Home” The Historic Contracts of Louisville Slugger,” runs through October 19, 2003.
The Louisville Slugger Museum recently opened a new exhibit showcasing 32 historic baseball contracts signed by the game’s greatest, including Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese. The exhibit, entitled, “Safe at Home” The Historic Contracts of Louisville Slugger,” runs through October 19, 2003.
The contracts, missing from Hillerich & Bradsby Co. for 15 years, were discovered in a 1999 Sotheby’s auction catalogue as part of the collection of a noted baseball collector and historian on the East Coast. The documents are now safe at home in Louisville, Kentucky and temporarily on display in the Museum’s Pee Wee Reese Gallery.
“Each of these documents is a piece of baseball history. Every page tells a story, ” said Bill Williams, the Museum’s executive director and SABR member since 1995. “These are the players’ signatures before people saw them as valuable ‘autographs.’ And the stories behind each contract are as individual as the signatures themselves. We’re encouraging visitors to read between the lines and in the margins, where they’ll find unique, handwritten notes. They’re really something to see.”
All images courtesy of The Louisville Slugger Museum.
Originally published: May 20, 2003. Last Updated: May 20, 2003.