Vintage Derek Jeter Louisville Slugger P72 Baseball Bat (retired) Offical / Rare

  

Louisville Slugger® retires P72 bat model in honor of Derek Jeter. Firsts are rare when you've been in baseball as long as Louisville Slugger®, the Official Bat of Major League Baseball®. "Derek has swung one bat model from one bat company his entire career, " said James Sass, Director of Professional Baseball Sales for the Louisville, Kentucky-based company. Derek has made over 12,500 plate appearances in his 20 MLB seasons, and every single one of them has been with a Louisville Slugger P72. With Derek's impending retirement, we thought it was fitting to retire his bat model in recognition of his brilliant career. We are grateful for his enduring and unwavering loyalty. In honor of Derek's tremendous career and impact, we won't be making the P72 anymore. Company officials surprised Jeter with their decision in a pre-game presentation of "The Last P72" in Yankee Stadium.

RE-NAMING THE P72 FOR DEREK JETER. The P72 has been one of the more popular models with MLB players over the decades.

In addition to Jeter, who now ranks sixth on the all-time career hits list, it has been swung by Hall of Famers Cal Ripken Jr. And Robin Yount, among others. The specifications of the P72, with its medium barrel and balanced swing weight, will still exist for players to order, but under a new model name. It will be called the DJ2 in recognition of Jeter and his incredible career. There is one potential exception where Louisville Slugger could use the P72 name on bats again;the company says it will invoke a grandfather clause to use P72 for any descendent of the player the bat was originally made: Les Pinkham.