Former Yankee Joe Pepitone Sues Baseball HOF over Mickey Mantle's 500th HR Bat
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Former New York Yankees first baseman Joe Pepitone is suing the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, on the grounds that it refuses to return the Mickey Mantle 500th home run bat that Pepitone says he lent to the HOF.
According to Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic, the 80-year-old Pepitone’s lawsuit states:
“Pepitone’s Bat is a one-of-a-kind historical baseball artifact with an estimated value of more than $500,000. Pepitone did not gift, sell, assign, or in any way transferred his sole ownership interest in the Bat to any person or entity. Pepitone unequivocally demanded that the Museum return the Bat on September 1, 2020, as promised. The Museum has unreasonably and unlawfully refused Pepitone’s demand to return the Bat and continues to possess the Bat without legal cause or justification over Pepitone’s objection.”
The Hall of Fame denies Pepitone’s account, saying it has owned the bat since the Yankees donated it in 1967.
The bat in question was used by Mantle to hit the 500th home run of his MLB career during a game on May 14, 1967, against the Baltimore Orioles.
The lawsuit states Mantle used Pepitone’s bat to hit the historic homer after Pepitone homered earlier in the game: “In the next inning (7th inning) of the Game, Pepitone handed his bat … to Mantle and told Mantle that the Bat ‘had another home run in it.’ Mantle smiled at Pepitone and took the Bat to the plate.”
