Where

[yanks12025]

Hi
When Ever I Ask A Thing About Game Used Bats . Someone Always Says In The Bat Records It Shows That Person Did Not Use That Kind Of Model Then. Where Do You Get Like The Factory Records Or There Bat Records. Like When They Order A Model Of A Bat And What Year They Ordered It.

[MSpecht]

Good Question --



The factory records from Hillerich & Bradsby / Louisville Slugger basically became available to the collecting community in 1996, due primarilty to the efforts of bat collectors Vince Malta and Bill Riddell. In 1995 Vince, Bill, Ron Fox and I co-authored a book entitled BATS-- Professional Hillerich & Bradsby and Adirondack, 1950 - 1994. Following the publication of that book, Vince began a lengthy series of conversations with Bill Williams of Hillerich & Bradsby in an attempt to encourage Bill to make their records available to the public primarily so bat collectors would have additional information at their disposal when trying to determine if a bat was really a professional model that was / could have been game-used by a particular player. In 1996, Mr. Williams granted us full access to the H & B shipping records, and Vince, Bill, and I spent several days in the first of several trips to Louisville researching and copying factory records.

What is actually contained in the H & B factory records?

From the early 1900's through March, 1983, all orders by players were entered on 8" by 10" bat cards. Each player had a bat card that shows clearly his order in the following manner --

date / Model / lengthg / weight / Machine # / Number of Bats

Additionally, any other specific request by the player was also noted, such as Use Wide Grain, Mark weights, etc. An example of a bat card can be found reproduced in the book Crack of the Bat - The Louisville Slugger Story , by Bob Hill. The book is readily available through Amazon.com.

In April, 1993, the H & B system was computerized, and the information entered in a database. The database system only contains orders from April, 1993 to the present --- previous orders were not entered into the database. When these records are printed out for a specific player now, the order is displayed as follows --

Name / Invoice 3 / Date / Model / Finish / Length / Weight / Machine #/
Number of Bats / Customer's Name

The important change in the records from 1983 to present is that, with the inclusion of the customer's name, it is relatively easy to determine when large amounts of promotional bats were sent to a show promoter or a player's marketing company, or an agent ....this becomes important when these promotional bats are mistakenly authenticated as game-used in error, and a collector spends considerable money on something that is not what he thinks it is. See the blogs on The Experts Corner from jim Caravello and me for additional information on this topic.

Currently, approximately six people to my knowledge have access to factory records to varying degrees. .... One of the requirements when Mr. Williams agreed to release the records was that while the information could be given out in a variety of formats, he did not want the actual bat cards or data printouts physically reproduced and distributed.

When you ask a question on this forum about specific bats, Either Jim Caravello or I will generally answer the question if we have the records for that particular player. Combined, we have the factory records for approximately 300 individual players. Other websites also have persons who will respond to those questions. Plus, Game Used Universe has many members who are extremely knoweledgable about bats from certain eras, specific teams, or certain players, who always are willing to share their knowledge. The information you are given is offered to help you make the most informed decision possible when deciding whether to purchase a specific bat for your collection. The cost is too high not to get as much information as possible before spending your money --- the days of learning a "fifty dollar lesson" are long gone.

How can you get access to the records? The place to start is right here at Game Used Universe. The H & B records for all Hall of Fame members is in the process of being posted and available to all members. Somewhere around 80 or so charts have already been posted, and more are on the way. Also, Vince Malta is near publication of his second book, which will also contain the bat order records of all Hall of Famers, That book is included in a GUU membership package, and will also be sold separately through GUU. For non- Hall of Fame players, there is a possibility that some records will be posted on Game Used Universe following completion of the Hall of Fame charts. In the meantime, keep posting your questions and Jim or I will respond with all the information available to us. Read Jim's most current blogs in The Experts Corner for a detailed explanation of what that actually means.

Good Luck with future collecting.

Mike