Butler graduate Tim Thoma, 57, has developed a hobby of collecting bats from former major leaguers — many Hall of Famers — autographed jerseys and other memorabilia.

WINFIELD TWP — Forgive Tim Thoma if he's gone a bit batty.

It's a point of passion with him.

Thoma, 57, is a 1979 Butler graduate and a member of the Golden Tornado's 1977 WPIAL co-championship football team. He has a ministry and serves as chaplain at Lernerville Speedway.

And he has developed a hobby of collecting bats from former major leaguers — many Hall of Famers — autographed jerseys and other memorabilia.

“I had a ton of baseball cards when I was a kid,” Thoma said. “When I got older, I wanted to get rid of some of them, so I went to some of those sports memorabilia shows and saw these guys with old helmets, jerseys, bats ...

“I liked the old jerseys and bats. Old-time baseball stuff has always held my interest. I decided to begin a collection of my own.”

Thoma estimates he's been collecting old sports items for roughly five years now. He has his share of autographed Pittsburgh Penguin and Steeler items, but the heart of his collection is baseball stuff — primarily bats.

“I'm guessing I've got 80 bats or so,” he said.

These aren't your typical souvenir bats. Many of the bats in Thoma's collection have been game-used, with remnants of pine tar still on them.

Try these names on for size: Ty Cobb, Josh Gibson, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Harry Heilman and Fred Clarke. He also has an autographed Willie Mays New York Giants jersey, Hank Aaron Milwaukee Braves jersey, along with jerseys of Willie Stargell, Mickey Mantle and Stan Musial, all with authentic autographs.

He also has rows of seats from Forbes Field.

“I'm just a fan,” Thoma said, laughing, while wielding a bat that's probably worth “$80,000 or so, something like that.”

All of these items are displayed in a special room in his home — a room that could pass for a mini-baseball museum.

Included in that room is a rack full of game-used Pirate bats from the 1971 World Series. Thoma has bats from that Series swung by Richie Hebner, Gene Alley, Jackie Hernandez, Dave Cash, Bill Mazeroski, Bob Robertson, Roberto Clemente, Al Oliver, Jose Pagan, Manny Sanguillen, Milt May and Dave Ricketts, among others.

Thoma has never figured out the total value of his sports collection. He doesn't expect to keep all of it forever.

“The 50th anniversary of that 1971 Pirate season arrives in a couple of years,” he said. “I've already had a guy contact me and told me to name my price for all of those 1971 bats. I'll probably wind up selling, but I don't know yet.”

One thing Thoma does know is he won't stop collecting.

“I go to auctions, some players from those older eras are dying off and their families don't know what to do with a lot of this stuff ... These items become available,” he said.

“My love is old baseball. I have a lot of memories and this room helps bring them all back.”