Visiting the H&B museum and factory. As most Cardinals bat collectors know, Stan Musial played the majority of his career without a Hillerich & Bradsby contract. Accordingly, most of his bats say "MUSIAL MODEL" in block letters on the barrel. During the 1940s, Musial did have a contract and his bats were branded with his signature. That changed around 1950, and Musial used non-contract models the rest of his career. Or, so I thought.

In Stan's H&B shipping records, there's a note written under one order of 12 bats in April 1961 that says, "his auto on these." Interestingly, the autograph used on these 12 bats was not the same one he used in the 1940s. It was a larger signature, similar to the signature Stan uses to this day. I'd never seen this second signature on an actual game-used bat until I visited the H&B museum and factory on August 9. There, in a case with Lou Gehrig's and Ted Williams' bats, is one of 12 large-signature Musial gamers.

While the museum doesn't have a tremendous number of bats on display, Musial and the Cardinals are well-represented. In fact, one display holds World Series bats of nine Cardinals players. Interestingly, one bat (a P72 model) was made for So Taguchi, who uses nothing but Mizuno from his native Japan. The Yadier Molina bat was a model (O74) and finish (Galen handle, black barrel) I'd never seen Yadi use. And the Albert Pujols bat had his name printed as "Alberto." I found that odd since Albert's actual World Series bats said "Albert." The bats in the museum are replicas made specifically for display, but are identical to pro-model bats - there are no markings to identify them as replicas.

A visit to the H&B museum and factory is a must for any avid bat collector. The factory tour isn't long, but you'll see actual bats being made along with video segments that explain the bat-making process. The museum has bats on display from several players, from the earliest bats turned by H&B to more contemporary models. There are hands-on exhibits that allow guests to pick up and feel different models. And there's even a batting cage where, for a small fee, you can take a few hacks. Outside in the museum lobby, visitors can peer into the H&B bat vault, where more than 4,000 lathe models are organized in numerical order. In the days before lathes were computer-driven, these bats were the templates craftsmen used to create bats to players' specs. There's also a wall of small wood plates bearing the stamped signatures of just about every person ever to sign a contract with H&B.

One other Cardinals-related side note. After our family wrapped up its tour and was back in the lobby, I saw a guy who looked familiar near the information desk. For some reason, I walked up and said, "You look just like Tom Pagnozzi." It was, indeed, the former Cards catcher. Tom must have been taking a Midwestern vacation. The night before, he was spotted by television cameras in the crowd at Busch Stadium, and a week later, he was in the stands at Wrigley - wearing a Louisville Slugger polo shirt.