Atari baseball bat?

[the 5th ghost]

I recently aquired an unusual Atari releated item, I'v never seen one before.

 

It's a baseball bat, Pro Louisville Slugger, with the Atari logo printed at the fat end next to Bill Madlock's signature and Pittsburgh Pirates logo.

 

I'm guessing this is from the early 80s. Does anyone else have one, or from a different team? What's the story with this bat?

 

Thanks for any input

[MattG/Snyper2099]

Post a pic, never heard of this one...

[the 5th ghost]

Will do...soon

[Atari kid]

never herd of one

[the 5th ghost]

Ok, here is the picture as promised...

 

[kyle]

WOW! Is that for real is some kinda joke!?!?!?

[HawgWyld]

If it's a joke, it's a damned good one.

 

That's great! Man, I hope that thing's for real!

[kyle]

As a huge atari and sports fan i'm jealous as hell over that bat!! Damn i want it!!!

[Mindfield]

At a guess, I'd say it was probably bat day, and was sponsored by Atari. Very cool item!

 

And if it's not real -- you're a day early. :-)

[the 5th ghost]

Hi everyone,

 

I had to chuckle when I read the responses

 

It's real all right. I'm thinking along the lines of what Mindfield said, this might have been given away during a bat day sponsored by Atari at what was then Three Rivers Stadium. Based on the Bill Madlock signature, I'm guess circa 1980, but that's an educated guess.

 

As you can see, this thing has been well used. A friend of mine found this bat at a local flea market and bought it for me because he knows I collect Atari items.

 

What I'm wondering, is if there were bats with other Pirate player signatures on them.

 

Anyway, I'm glad to finally get this picture posted so that everyone can check it out.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

That is unbelievably awesome!

 

Bill Madlock was with Pittsburgh from 1979-1985, which is almost exactly the timeframe that Atari would be doing something like sponsoring a bat night.

[Red 5]

I would have to agree with the others here on the 'bat night' theory.

98% of the time the give aways at ball parks are ruined by the sponsors.

For instance, cap night is always great, but the back of many of my 'cap night' yankee hats say 'Hitachi' or 'Fleet Bank' which really ruins it for me.

I have a great statue of Lou Gherig with 'Hormell' stamped into it... great...

 

However, an Atari Logo is fantastic!

Sponsoring a 'bat day' in Pittsburgh is kind of weird for Atari to do, but that looks pretty real to me !

I wonder if they sponsored an other giveaway days at any other parks.

Probably close to impossible to find that information out.

[D.Yancey]

I had a bat exactly like that one (minus the Atari Logo) that I won as a prize in a Little League Baseball fundraiser. I think we sold light bulbs or maybe Hershey bars. I can't remember which fundraiser that I got the bat for. I remember that you could pick 28, 29 or 30 inch bats when we selected from the prize catalog. This would have been about 80 or 81, so the time was the same.

[HawgWyld]

Sponsoring a 'bat day' in Pittsburgh is kind of weird for Atari to do...

 

Not really, when you consider how popular the Pirates were at the time with the World Series win, the "We are Family" stuff and all that. Pulling for Pittsburgh back then was rather like pulling for Boston today -- they were the former underdogs making good.

[Stingray]

Super neat item!

 

-S

[heavy-sixer]

I live about 30 miles outside of Pittsburgh and I actually found 2 of these bats on separate occasions at a flea market in Latrobe, PA. This was maybe 4 or 5 years ago. I sold them on Ebay and really didn't get much for them. They weren't mint or anything but a neat Atari item. I kind of wish I hadn't sold them. Maybe I'll find another one this year.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

Sponsoring a 'bat day' in Pittsburgh is kind of weird for Atari to do

 

Why is it so odd? You mention Yankees caps sponsored by Hitachi, which certainly isn't based in New York and has about as much to do with major league baseball as Atari does. It's just another way for the company to get its name out to people.

[MayDay]

Yeah, we know a lot about promos here in KC... at least 12 every month for the Royals, which ends up being a lot of sponsored products. In fact, the Royals give away their best players in a giant promotion every year about June-July. First you have the Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye, and Mike Sweeney bobbleheads, then you give away the real player to one special grand prize winner. *mutters incoherently*.

 

If the Pirates c1980 were anything like the Royals c2000, then there was probably a limit to the first 20,000 fans or so. Of course, not even all of the 20,000 are probably given away. I'm sure most of them were played with by kids and no longer exist in any recognizable condition. You could always check with the team itself, I'm guessing the marketing department may have a history of long-past promotions.

 

I'm so glad I grew up a Cardinals fan... I caught a lot of smack in my 1985 Kindergarten class, but I'm the one laughting now! Okay, not really, as the Royals are (were) my second favorite team when I finally forgave them for cheating us about 10 years later... n/m, I still haven't forgiven them. Salary cap, anyone?

 

Oh, and one last off-topic note. My boss at work had an ingenius idea for a game, when he heard I was working on Atari stuff. "All-Steroid Baseball League". I might work on a Pete Rose hack when I get some more time!

 

-JD

[kencrisis]

Although I don't really follow baseball, that's a cool Atari item! I fondly remember the bat days my dad took me to when I was a kid for the Dodgers and Angels.

 

Do they still have bat days today? I would think that would be pretty ironic/hysterical if they did, what with all the terror phobia and backpack checking.

 

"You can't bring that backpack in, but here's a weapon with a fun corporate logo."

[video game addict]

"You can't bring that backpack in, but here's a weapon with a fun corporate logo."

 

I thought this had more to do with their fear you might actually sneak past beer or some sort of food product...

 

And not buy their $11 hotdogs & $7 waters.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

I think it's mini-bat night now, but who the hell wants a mini-bat? Those are even more worthless than those annoying inflateable stick people pound together.

[Lifeguard]

Thats a neat item. I saw a Atari golf putter on ebay about 2 years ago. I wonder how many other sporting good related items were put out by the promotions or marketing departments.

[mister_pal]

wow that is one cool bat .

[video game addict]

I wonder how many other sporting good related items were put out by the promotions or marketing departments.

 

 

Well you can add this one to the ever growing list.

 

 

I guess Atari must of really loved Pittsburgh!

 

 

Check this auction out!

[ehenciak]

I wonder how many other sporting good related items were put out by the promotions or marketing departments.

 

 

Well you can add this one to the ever growing list.

 

 

I guess Atari must of really loved Pittsburgh!

 

 

Check this auction out!

838455[/snapback]

 

Atari probably would have LOVED Pittsburgh in 1979-1980 seeing that the Pirates won the WS in Oct. 79 and the Steelers won their 4th Super Bowl in Jan. 1980. We were the city of champions and the economy was nothing short of booming! However, that was probably the last of the glory days for Pittsburgh sports/economics aside from the glimmers of hope in the early 90s. Shortly after the 80 Super Bowl, the steel industry collapsed and everyone moved away. For a while there, this market was HUGE and loaded with disposable income all things being equal.

 

Now, however, the city is simply rusting away .... however, our stadiums totally kick ass!!! (sarcasm) I think 17 people showed up at PNC Park the other day ... In fact, if you want to bid on the 66 story USX Tower (that Tah-wer in dahn-tahn), you can! From what I understand, they might be shutting it down soon! You can probably get it cheap, but the taxes will murder you.

 

I love it here since its my home, but I'll probably be moving later this year since the job market for chip designers SUCKS! That should allow someone to get even more games at the Eastland flea market and thrift stores in the South Hills ! I felt like Sum Guy that one day when I nabbed a 5200 Do's Castle at a thrift I hadn't been to in years.... Also found a Waterworld at Eastland a year or two ago in a box of games for $10 (beware of the crazy woman that lurks indoors selling games)!

 

At any rate, nice find! If you want to sell it, PM me ! It'd be nice to have a Mad Dog bat with an Atari logo...he was a steal from the Cubs!

 

Ed