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So as not to hijack the wood bat thread-

I wonder if RZ or anyone else has any information on 'Georgia Cracker' bats manufactured by the Hanna Manufacturing Company in Athens, GA. I've been able to find some information on the 'Batrite' model they manufactured, which at one time or another was used by big names such as Shoeless Joe Jackson and Lou Gehrig, but I've come up empty on any information about their 'Georgia Cracker' model.
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A real quick search without any knowledge found mostly hits about "Georgia Cracker" as a racial definition of a Georgian families. See below and find a little blub about the bats in a blog and ebay has some hits. However, this job "thing" does not let me get much deeper than that.
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There used to be a baseball bat factory in Athens, the Hanna Manufacturing Company. Hanna produced bats from 1926 until they went out of business in 1976.

Now should be the part when I wax nostalgic about our fine old bat factory, but I can’t. I remember using a Hanna bat or two in little league, and I remember that the factory was located near downtown, behind where the Classic Center is now, downhill toward the river – near where Tyrone’s was. And I vaguely remember getting a group tour of the place with some other schoolkids. Was there a lot of . . . sawdust? I couldn’t tell you. That’s the extent of what I recall about the Hanna bat factory.

One of our best family trips was to the Louisville Slugger museum and bat factory. We have since been back several times, and each time is cool. It is inexpensive and they give out souviener "mini" bats with each admission. Not that it actually saves money in the souviener shop, but it is a nice gesture. LS has over 2000 different turning models of wood bats in use by current and past professional ballplayers. These turning models are cataloged by last name of the player who designed the bat (according to their specifications) and a consecutive number indicating it was the umpteeenth number in the "C" series. For example, the C-271 bat is arguably the most popular model in use today. It was designed by Jose Cardenal, a journeyman OF with the Cubs from 72-77, career BA .275 w/138 HR.

It is interesting to me that 2 of the most popular bat models in use today, M-110, and P-72, were designed by players with brief and little known careers but their impact in baseball was made by "other" players using their originally designed bats. Ken Griffey Jr. has used the C-271 for most of his career and was the youngest to reach the 500 HR plateau. Cal Ripken and Derek Jeter have done more with the P-72 model than the original designer (Ed Pinkham, Chi Nationals 1871, .263 BA, 1 HR). Eddie Malone had a similar 86 game career with the Chi WS from 1949-50 where he batted .257 w/ 1HR. If fans were polled on the identity of the M-110 designer it is likely they would attribute it to Mickey Mantle, but Mickey in fact never had his own bat model and used the K-55 "Chuck Klein" model almost exclusively for his entire career. Here are a few other LS bat models for you to take a guess at. I will post the answers in a couple of days just to keep everyone happy so you won't stay awake at night wondering who designed that bat?

R-43 A-99 M-159
T-85 T-141 W-148
C-243 D-29 P-339
R-161 I-13 S-318

Good luck and have fun!
Last edited by Chuck Faulkner

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