A bat used by baseball and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson has brought a hefty price at auction.
Robinson’s bat from the 1949 MLB All-Star Game sold for $1.08 million (including buyer’s premium) on Saturday, according to Goldin Auctions.
One of two made for the game at Brooklyn’s Ebbetts Field, the Hillerich & Bradsby S100 model bat had been in possession of the Robinson family. According to the listing, the bat “displays light game use and is uncracked.”
“The bat has been in the Robinson family archives since the day it was first used by Jackie, and I guarantee that is 100% authentic,” Robinson’s widow, Rachel, said in a statement to Goldin.
Robinson, who broke MLB’s color barrier in 1947, hit a double and scored three runs in the game for the National League.
The record for a bat sold at auction is still held by the one Babe Ruth used in 1923 to hit the first home run at Yankee Stadium, which went for $1.265 million in 2004.
