Feller buys Babe bat from Shoreline couple

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In 1948, the bat supported Babe Ruth in his final appearance at Yankee Stadium.

This summer, it will help support Larry and Sally May of Shoreline in their retirement after they reached an agreement to sell the autographed bat to Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller.

Larry, a 62-year-old retired truck driver, won the bat in December as part of a contest sponsored by Upper Deck, a baseball-card company. The bat was autographed by Ruth and Feller and appraised at $107,000. Yesterday, Sally finished her final day of work as a school secretary, retiring the same day the sale was announced. The bat will be exchanged Sunday in Seattle.

Neither Feller nor the Mays revealed the exact price of the sale, but Feller said it was less than $100,000.

"We really feel like it has come full circle," Sally said. "It was great to win it. It was great to be able to share it with the kids and everyone we shared it with. It's time now."

The bat originally belonged to Feller, who was pitching for the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium on Babe Ruth Day, June 13, 1948. Feller's teammate, Eddie Robinson, had Ruth autograph the bat, and Robinson later sold it to collector Barry Halper.

"It's the most important bat in the United States," Feller said. "It's the last bat that he ever had in his hand."

The bat will be added to Feller's museum, about 15 miles from Des Moines, Iowa. The museum chronicles Feller's career on the mound and in the military, where he was an honorary Green Beret.

Taxes on the bat, due next April, would have been as much as $35,000 and made it impossible for the Mays to keep it.

Danny O'Neil can be reached at 206-515-5536 or doneil@seattletimes.com.