Mark McGwire Signed Louisville Slugger Pro Stock Blonde Baseball Bat Schwartz

Add the game-object signature of the most prolific power hitter of his era — on the professional-grade bat construction used by major league players — to your collection with this Mark McGwire Autographed Louisville Slugger Pro Stock Blonde Baseball Bat — Schwartz Sports Authenticated. The Louisville Slugger Pro Stock is not a display replica — it is the professional-grade bat construction built to the same specifications used in major league games, the class of object McGwire held in his hands on September 8, 1998, when Steve Trachsel delivered the first pitch of the fourth inning at Busch Stadium and McGwire drove it down the left-field line for home run number 62, breaking Roger Maris's record that had stood since 1961. He finished that season with 70 home runs — a record that stood until Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001 — and produced the most widely covered individual statistical pursuit in the history of the modern game, a summer that the sport credited with reviving fan interest following the damaging 1994 players' strike. The blonde Pro Stock signed by McGwire is the game-format credential piece of the career that produced 583 home runs, the all-time rookie record of 49 in 1987, four consecutive seasons with 50 or more home runs, and the most at-bats-per-home-run ratio in the history of professional baseball (10.6). certified authentic by Schwartz Sports Memorabilia with a tamper-proof numbered hologram and a certificate of authenticity verifiable online.

This Louisville Slugger Pro Stock Blonde Baseball Bat has been hand-signed by Mark McGwire. The autograph has been certified authentic by Schwartz Sports Memorabilia with a tamper-proof numbered hologram and a certificate of authenticity verifiable online.

Product Highlights

• Hand-signed by Mark McGwire — "Big Mac"; Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals (1986-2001); 583 career home runs (11th all-time); 70 home runs in 1998 (single-season record until 2001); 12-time All-Star; 1989 World Series champion
• Louisville Slugger Pro Stock Blonde Baseball Bat — professional-grade construction; the bat format used by major league players; the game-object credential of the sport's most prolific power era
• Schwartz Sports Authenticated — tamper-proof numbered Schwartz Sports hologram with certificate of authenticity verifiable online
• 70 home runs (1998) — broke Roger Maris's 37-year record of 61 on September 8, 1998; finished 28 ahead of Maris's mark; record stood until Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001; the 1998 home run chase with Sammy Sosa widely credited with reviving baseball after the 1994 players' strike
• Power era credentials: four consecutive 50+ HR seasons (1996-1999) — MLB record; 245 HR from 1996-1999 — MLB four-season record; 135 HR in 1998-1999 — MLB two-season record; rookie record 49 HR (1987) — still stands
• Career at-bats per home run: 10.6 — the best ratio in the history of professional baseball; 583 career home runs on just 6,187 career at-bats; MLB All-Century Team (1999)
• Bash Brothers era: three consecutive AL pennants with Oakland (1988-1990); 1989 World Series champion (Oakland over San Francisco Giants)
• Backed by our Lifetime Authenticity Guarantee

The Pro Stock — The Game-Object Format

In the catalog of signed pieces available for any baseball player, the bat occupies the most sport-specific position: it is the implement of every hit, every home run, every at-bat — the object that makes contact with the most important single pitch in any given game. The Louisville Slugger Pro Stock is the professional-grade construction built for use in actual major league games — not a commemorative display piece or a reduced-specification replica, but the same class of bat that McGwire brought to the plate on September 8, 1998, and throughout the most-watched individual statistical chase in the modern history of the sport. A signed jersey documents the uniform. A signed photograph documents a moment. The signed Pro Stock blonde bat documents the instrument — the specific class of object that McGwire swung 583 times to produce home runs across 16 professional seasons, at a rate of one home run per every 10.6 at-bats that no player in the history of professional baseball has improved upon. For the collector who wants the most sport-specific available McGwire signed piece — the one that directly represents what made him the most prolific power hitter of his era — the Pro Stock blonde bat is the format that answers that question most precisely.

September 8, 1998 — Home Run #62

By the time September 8, 1998 arrived, the home run chase between McGwire and Sammy Sosa had dominated the American sports conversation for most of the summer. Roger Maris had hit 61 home runs in 1961 — a record that had survived 37 years and every power hitter the game had produced in the intervening decades. McGwire had entered September tied with Maris at 61 after hitting his 61st in the series opener against the Cubs the day before. In the fourth inning, with two out and nobody on against Steve Trachsel, McGwire took the first pitch he saw and drove it down the left-field line, just clearing the wall. He missed first base rounding the bases and had to return to step on it. Joe Buck called it on Fox: "Touch first Mark: You are the new single-season home run king." Sammy Sosa — then in right field for the Cubs — ran in from his position to embrace McGwire at home plate. McGwire finished the season with 70 home runs, 28 beyond Maris's 37-year mark, and the sport credited the summer-long chase with producing a national conversation about baseball that had not existed since before the 1994 strike emptied the stands. The Louisville Slugger Pro Stock signed by McGwire is the game-object format of the player who stood at the plate on that September afternoon and hit the pitch that changed the record books.

583 Home Runs — The Power Career

The 1998 season was the most visible available chapter of a power career that had been producing historic numbers since McGwire arrived in Oakland. As a 23-year-old rookie in 1987, he hit 49 home runs — the most by any rookie in major league history, a record that still stands. With Jose Canseco forming the "Bash Brothers" combination at the heart of the Oakland lineup, the Athletics won three consecutive AL pennants (1988-1990) and the 1989 World Series over the San Francisco Giants. From 1996 through 1999 — the four seasons that represent the most concentrated available power production in the sport's history — McGwire hit 245 home runs: 52 in 1996, 58 in 1997, 70 in 1998, 65 in 1999. No player has hit more home runs across any four-season span in major league history. He led the major leagues in home runs in four consecutive seasons. He produced four consecutive seasons with 50 or more home runs — no player in the sport's history had done it more than twice before him. His career total of 583 home runs came across just 6,187 career at-bats — the 10.6 at-bats-per-home-run ratio that stands as the most efficient power production rate in professional baseball history. McGwire's career, including his 2010 admission of steroid use during these seasons, has kept him from Hall of Fame election — a complicated legacy that the power numbers themselves do not resolve, and that each collector weighs individually. The Pro Stock blonde bat signed by McGwire is the game-object credential of those numbers — the bat, from the player, who produced the most concentrated available power era in the sport's modern history.

Schwartz Sports Authentication

This bat has been certified authentic by Schwartz Sports Memorabilia with a tamper-proof numbered hologram and a certificate of authenticity verifiable online.

Authenticity

This bat is certified authentic by Schwartz Sports Memorabilia. The tamper-proof numbered hologram and certificate of authenticity are verifiable online.

Specifications

Authenticity Guarantee

Every signed piece at GameDay Sports Memorabilia is backed by our Lifetime Authenticity Guarantee. If your item is ever determined to be inauthentic, we will replace or refund it — no questions asked.