Joe Pepitone is suing the Baseball Hall of Fame for $1 million, claiming the museum is displaying the bat Mickey Mantle used to hit his 500th home runs, which the former Yankee great claims belongs to him.
As detailed in a report by The Athletic, Pepitone filed a lawsuit in New York claiming that the Hall of Fame has displayed the historic bat since 1967, the year Mantle blasted his 500th home run and the year before he retired, but on the condition it would be returned to Pepitone whenever he asked for it back. The bat has Pepitone’s signature on the barrel, as noted by the Hall of Fame on its website detailing its collection.
In the lawsuit, Pepitone details that after he hit a two-run home run against the Orioles on May 14, 1967 to give the Yanks a 5-4 lead, he handed his bat to Mantle, telling the aging superstar that there was “another home run” left in that bat. Mantle accepted and later blasted a solo home run off Baltimore’s Stu Miller to become the first switch hitter in baseball history to reach 500 career home runs.
Pepitone said Yankees front office executive Robert Fishel, who died 20 years later, told Pepitone that the bat was only being loaned to the Hall of Fame, and that Pepitone had repeatedly been “assured” that the bat would be returned to him whenever he asked for it.
A statement from the Hall of Fame via The Athletic refutes Peptione’s claims.
“The bat that Mickey Mantle used to hit his 500th home run was donated to the Hall of Fame by the New York Yankees in May 1967,” the statement said. “The Hall of Fame owns this historical bat and for more than fifty years, the Hall of Fame has preserved it and proudly put it on display for millions of fans to see as they tour the Museum.”
Ken Goldin, a well-known seller of sports memorabilia through his company, Goldin Auctions, values the bat at “well over” $1 million, as Mantle memorabilia has always been among the most coveted items for baseball collectors, especially in the modern day when older sports memorabilia has been selling for record-high amounts.
Pepitone played eight seasons with the Yankees starting in 1962, and was teammates with Mantle for seven of them. He was named to three straight All-Star teams from 1963 to 1965, helping the Yanks to two World Series appearances in the first two years of that run, though the Bombers lost both of them.
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