The history of the black World Series bats is that both teams that made the World Series , both World Champions and League Champions, had approximately 200 special black bats were originally made after the series to be given to the members of the teams and staff. Their popularity fell off during the new big money contract era of the 1990's at such time, a mere trivial piece of wood to most of the mulit millions dollar players at that time and under appreciated by most so production was cut significantly making these bats even scarcer. They were never, ever made available for sale to the public by the Louisville Slugger company. Each bat is a model 125 and is stamped with the year, team and series status. Every player has his name burnished into the bat and filled with gold leaf. Players that had signature contracts with Louisville Slugger will be found in script while non contract players names appear in block letter. You will also note that there are far fewer signature prints on bats of this era and Louisville Slugger could not offer enough compensation for contract players to draw much interest. Notable players include Alberty Bell, Eddie Murray, Jim Thome, Carlos Baerga and Oral Hershieser. Condition. Near mint to mint.