A Ty Cobb-used baseball bat has sold for $253,000 at auction in the US, beating the previous $137,000 record for one of the great Georgia Peach's bats by 84.6%.
The Louisville Slugger bat was the star lot at the Fan Fest auction in Kansas City on July 10.
The 1919 bat was put up for auction by the 92-year-old daughter of Eddie Onslow, Cobb's teammate with the Detroit Tigers.
The fine price is a testament not only to the power of the Cobb name at auction, but also the importance of provenance - it was accompanied by two handwritten letters from Cobb to Onslow, confirming that Cobb had given the bat to his teammate.
Auction house president David Hunt explained to the Kansas City Star newspaper that the bat is one of the finest examples of a Louisville Slugger.
"When you have one right from Louisville Slugger's archives, it's about as good as you're going to get. This one is much better. That's how good it is," he said.
It sold to Colorado-based baseball collector Tyler Tysdale.
The record for a baseball bat remains the $1.3m Louisville Slugger Babe Ruth used to hit the opening home run at the new Yankee Stadium in 1923.
The auction also featured three Cy Young awards won by Jim Palmer in the 1970s as the league's best pitcher.
Each sold within estimate, with the Baltimore Orioles star's 1973 and 1975 awards making $60,000, and the 1976 version achieving $65,000.
Two of the Gold Gloves he won as the league's best fielder in his position also sold, the 1976 version making 17,000, while the 1979 award achieved $14,000. Both had $10,000-15,000 estimates.
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