Serial Checker Bat [2021] 💯 Editor's Choice

July 19, 1955: Bat 089, top of the 4th, 2-2 count. Check swing. Yes (ump calls ball). Walk. Later scored.

But Leo didn’t stop there. He created the Ledger , a leather-bound book that cross-referenced each serial number with the player, the date of issue, the wood type, and—most obsessively—a running tally of hits, strikeouts, and check swings . serial checker bat

In the dusty basement of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, tucked between a shoeless Joe Cronin’s spikes and a piece of the old Yankee Stadium frieze, hangs an unremarkable piece of ash wood. It is cracked at the handle, stained with pine tar, and bears the faded number “24” on the knob. To the untrained eye, it is a broken bat. To the archivists, it is known as the Serial Checker Bat . July 19, 1955: Bat 089, top of the 4th, 2-2 count