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Former New York Yankees star Joe Pepitone has filed a lawsuit against the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum over the return of the Louisville Slugger bat that Mickey Mantle used to hit his 500th career home run ago has more than five decades.
In an 11-page lawsuit filed this week in federal court in upstate New York, Pepitone is also seeking compensatory damages of at least $ 1 million. The bat is currently valued at more than $ 500,000, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims Pepitone agreed to loan the bat to the Hall of Fame “with understanding and on condition that it be returned to him at any time upon his request.” Pepitone claims he has visited the Hall of Fame several times since and has always been reassured by museum staff that the bat would be returned when he wanted.
The Hall of Fame says the bat was donated and has owned it for over 50 years.
“The Hall of Fame has preserved it and proudly exhibited it to millions of fans,” the museum said in a statement. “This bat is out of place – on display at Cooperstown for fans around the world to see.”
Mantle was nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career when he hit a pitch from Stu Miller of the Baltimore Orioles in the right field bleachers at old Yankee Stadium in May 1967. The lawsuit says Mantle wanted to use a bat lighter than his signature. pattern in order to generate bat speed, and Pepitone obliged after hitting a home run the previous inning.
Pepitone claims the bat was removed from his locker after the match without his knowledge or consent before he agreed to lend it to the museum, which took possession of it days later.
The lawsuit also says Pepitone requested the bat last September and the Hall of Fame denied that request.
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