What's The Deal With BATS?

[frikativ54]

I know this might be dumb, but as a fairly young collector (23 yrs old), I have to ask: what's it with people's fanatical obsession with bats? It seems like collectors on GUU love their bats above all else - above jerseys, cleats, batting gloves, and helmets.

What attracts people to bats in the first place? I mean, I like my bats, but some guys on here have 15-20 bats per player. Doesn't that get real old after a while? I mean, I like them but one or two per player is enough for me.

Please lend me your insights. I would be curious to here why you collect what you do. This is not meant as an attack; I am just trying to understand people's love of bats better. Personally, I would rather have a game used jersey, cleats, or a helmet over a bat.

[kylehess10]

Good question. In my opinion, I think it's probably the look of the bat. For example: Think about Alfonso Soriano bats....they always show a tremendous amount of pine tar in the center of the bat, giving it a real nice look to it. Also, think about SAM bats, those are pretty popular among collectors, and it's simply because of the look of it. I personally love the look of Marucci's and bats that are broken in half.

[zookerman182]

I love collecting bats the most because they are all so different and there are so many styles. The better story behind the bat the better. Plus some players really take pride in thier bats and i think its cool to own something latter on that the player really depended on at one point in time.

[island_style]

I like bats, but I also collect jerseys, helmets, pants, etc.

Hitters make a living with their bats. They shave the handles, put pine tar on them, tape the handles, weigh them, etc. It's great to have a bat after a player went through his routine of prepping it for game use. Especially if it's of a player that you collect.

I do have several (7-10 each) bats of the players that I collect. To me, I would collect all of their bats if I had the chance. They may have used different models during various stages of their careers.

Uncracked bats are nice, but cracked bats have more appeal to me. If I could afford one, I'd love to have a Bo Jackson bat that he snapped in half over his leg.

Just my $.02.

Kind Regards,

Ron.

Rsamiano@aol.com

[shoremen44]

I collect really only Bats... I have a couple of Jersey, and Helmets, but I have a much larger bat collection.

The draw for me is the uniqueness of every single bat. Growing up my favorite player when I was in Baltimore was Mickey Tettleton. He was by no means a superstar, but I loved the way he played and my very first bat was given to me by him... I since have collected 14 of his bats, and everyone is different.

Painters use brushes, world leaders use pens... Hitters use bats. In baseball bats are the begining and end for me. You'll see hitters use other players bats to get out of a streak or for some other issue of luck... and alot of players cherish bats... Jerseys and hats are given to a player and everyone looks the same on the field, a bat is personal.

I think the question should be Why anything but Bats?

[Jags Fan Dan]

As someone who just started collecting a few bats about a month or two ago, I feel compelled to respond, because I had similar questions when I first came onto this forum. Here is why I have started to collect bats:

1. Price. I can get bats of players I like for well under $50, sometimes for just over $20 shipped.

2. Selection. I wanted a Dion James bat. He is a common player from the late 80's early 90's. I found a bat of his quickly. If I wanted a jersey or some other form of game used memorabilia, I think I would have been searching for years. There is such a wide selection of bats out there, it is easier to find the guy you are looking for than it would be for other types of memorabilia.

3. Variety. I love the different styles and brands of bats, I love the use they show (for me, the more beaten up and cracked they are, the better!) I love the customizations made by the players (shaved, taped, tarred handles, etc.).

4. Authenticity. Fortunately, game used bats cannot really be faked. With a little bit of research, you can quickly verify if a player used a certain type of bat and what it should look like. The bats that the players use are not something that can be readily bought by Joe Public and made to look like something it is not. The worst that can happen is someone can take a bat that was issued to the player but never used and add "use", but for the guys I am after, it would not be worth the time or trouble.

5. Wood. The patterns and colors of wood make it very eye appealing, and there is something cool (to me at least) about something as basic as a wooden bat still having so much relevance in such a technologically advanced world. Things have changed, but one thing that has stayed constant is wooden baseball bats.

Just my thoughts.

[BULBUS]

Most players customize their bats and that makes them so desireable. And because of these customizations, bats can be proven to be used by a certain player. Jersesy are tough to prove that the player actually wore them in games. Plus bats are esier to display if you dont have a huge room with a lot of wall space.

[Birdbats]

I enjoy bats because they're so "personal" -- meaning every player gets the same jersey, same cap, same jacket, etc. But the type of bat selected by a player is a very personal choice. They get to choose the length, weight, barrel thickness, handle thickness, knob shape, cupped or no cup, color and so on. So, when you pick up a 36" U1 model, you know how a Clemente bat felt. Same with an R43 (Ruth), A99 (Aaron), S2 (Mays), K55 (Mantle). Beyond that, they shaved them, grooved them, rubbed them with bones and bottles and tobacco juice, put on tape, wrote things on the knob, stored them in humidors and piles of dung (really). Guys could play without uniforms. Once, they even played without gloves (still do on the 16" softball fields around Chicago). But bats are necessary to the game, and each player has his own preferences about how that bat should look and feel. To me, the bat says "baseball."

[skyking26]

These are all very good responses. I feel the same way, and of course I will add that players use many bats per season so they can be had more easily and thusly far less expensively. Helmets usually last with a player many years, jerseys annually, gloves many years - and consequently if you can find legit examples of the latter you will pay pay pay pay pay...

[AWA85]

I agree, in some of the common players I have collected of the Reds it would be hard to fake or not worth the time and effort for the prices some of these bats go for. Something about having a piece of the game that each player had to have.

Just like everyone else, the more use and tar the better. I have recently been trying to stay away from black bats beacuse I feel they do not show their true use as much. I love my blonde Adam Dunn bat because it shows, ball marks, pine tar, dirt and everything else, while Black Dunn bat is pounded but just doesn't show that use to the eye without staring it down.

I would like a jersey of each home, away or alternate of past years and maybe one home and one away helmet, but due to price and space I can't limit my bat numbers at all.

[GameBats]

That's a great question.

I've been fascinated with game used bats since the early 80's. I have too many to list. I have no clue why I'm drawn to them? Please...Someone on this forum explain it to me. I can't get enough of them and I don't know why?

[aeneas01]

the fascination and interest in bats is easy for me to understand even tho i don't collect them myself - cleats, on the other hand, i just don't get! unfortunately for me my passion is football helmets - unfortunate because they take up so much room, can be (ironically) very fragile and are pain to move from place to place if you have a large collection....

[bigtruck260]

Bats are cheaper, and more fun.

I don't mind friends\family picking up non-cracked bats and taking a cut in my office (as long as nothing is destroyed)...

The bats of my faovrite players are generally under $100, while common jerseys can cost at least $100. Jerseys are targets for forgeries and are harder to authenticate. Bats of common players are easier to get a good opinion on...I believe I have the best resource around just a few key clicks away with Jeff @ Birdbats. He is always quick with an opinion...

Bats are hand-selected items. Contracted bats are especially nice.

Because of the long MLB season (7 months with ST), there is an abundance of bats for every price range. The challenge nowadays (the past 2 years) is placing an offer/bid before one of my fellow Cards collectors. I think most of us have a mutual understaning and respect for one another. I have communicated with many people during and after eBay auctions to discuss wins/losses and trades.

I may delve into jerseys one day, but for now, bats are easier to display, store and catalog.

Dave

[bigtruck260]

[quote=AWA85;75446] I have recently been trying to stay away from black bats beacuse I feel they do not show their true use as much. quote]

I think differently about this. I have black Rawlings bats that show WHOLE ball marks (white ball with blue stitching and seams) - it really is amazing how much detail is in some of them. If I can find photos, I'll post them.

Dave

[AWA85]

One thing I do like about Black bats is the way tape looks on them, really looks nice. Just seems the pine tar does not show up on on the black bats. In the end I probably won't turn either bat down. :D

[godwulf]

This is probably, at least in part, just a restatement of what others have expressed, but for me a bat is different because it's something the player has really used...not just something they wore. (Sure, they use their fielding gloves, too, but how available are those?)

I've had several players, when asked to sign a bat, get downright emotional about it - Steve Finley and Damon Berryhill come to mind, and just recently, Micah Owings.

All the other reasons - Jag Fan Dan summed them up very well.

[godwulf]

Geez, I had a scary moment there, when I thought I'd gone dyslexic and messed up Jag Fan Dan's name. :rolleyes: This board really needs an Edit function.

[metsbats]

I agree with Jeff. Bats are very personal for a player. Once he finds a good piece of lumber he will generally stick with it until it breaks or "it runs of hits". Players are generally superstitious about their bats more than any piece of equipment and when they are in a slump some players are know to sleep their bats! Just think the bat you own may have been that players bed.

The bat symbolizes the essence of the game. The action starts with the bat hitting the ball and putting into play. The use on the bat, the tar, the lace marks, the ball marks, the deadwood are remanents of this action.

David

[70to66]

Its the players war club, not to many players will give you a game used jersey. There is a rush when a player gives you a bat. Alot of people can get an autograph from a player, very few can score a bat.

[AWA85]

Your right 70to66, I've sold many of my autographs and certified autograph cards just so I could add a few more bats to my collection. I just think a bat looks so much nicer than a few cards when being displayed. It also means more to me and my collection.

[Vintagedeputy]

A bat is a weapon that a player uses for battle.......

Patton wouldnt have been caught dead without his pearl handled .45's

Jim

[Jags Fan Dan]

Geez, I had a scary moment there, when I thought I'd gone dyslexic and messed up Jag Fan Dan's name. :rolleyes: This board really needs an Edit function.
It is a bit of a naughty tongue twister isn't it???:D

[MSpecht]

Here is the forward to the book BATS. It's hard to believe that it has been 13 years since we wrote this.

"Like no other piece of baseball equipment, bats provide a window to the past. They are a connection to the players who roam the landscape of baseball's rich history. "Bats are," Hank Hersh once noted, "the most vital variable in a sport that relishes constants." Uniforms, caps, gloves, and cleats are all standardized, their connections to a player annotated by a label, number, or stitched-in name that tells little about the user.

Bars are different.

The characteristics left upon a bat by the player who used it transforms an undistinguished piece of wood into an artistic masterpiece revealing personality traits, athletic nuances, and, on occasion, some very peculiar habits. Stories of players' relationships with their bats are legendary in baseball lore.

Ted Williams once returned a shipment of ordered bats to Hillerich & Bradsby because he felt the handles were too thick -- sure enough, H & B found them to be 5/1000 th of an inch thicker than Williams' specifications. Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner religiously rubbed their bats with a bone or bottle to smooth and tighten the surface, believing it would harden the wood and prevent it from chipping. Norm Cash perfected the practice of corking a bat; he would bore a hole in the barrel about eight inches deep and fill it with a mixture of cork, sawdust, and glue, thereby reducing the weight of the bat while retaining the mass in order to make the ball jump.

Other players seem almost cavalier about their bats. Pete Rose would swing his bats on game day and merely pick out the one that felt best. Paul Waner would often reach into the bat pile and use whichever bat he picked up, regardless of whose it was. Bucky Dent buried the Red Sox in the 1978 playoff game with a bat he had borrowed from Mickey Rivers, who previously had borrowed it from Roy White.

Every bat tells a story about the player who used it. Bats connect you to a player and a time like no other piece of baseball equipment. When you hold your favorite player's bat in your hands, you hold the spirit of that player. Swing the bat and for an instant you are facing that Sandy Koufax fastball. Immediately, you recall vivid scenes from your youth -- that trip to the ballpark with Dad. and the game-winning home run.

There are many reasons people collect game used professional baseball bats. While this information will be of value to all collectors, we wrote this book for the collector who truly loves the game and revels in the resplendent and rewarding history of baseball."

--Vince Malta, Ron Fox, Bill Riddell, and Mike Specht

[skyking26]

Very interesting comments. It's obvious those of us that collect do so because of the fondness for the game we have. I failed to mention earlier that bats display easier, and generally cost less than the other GU items.

Lost today are the easy purchases, the trades, the fun. I just completed a quick deal with Mike Specht for a tuff bat I have needed for some time. No games. Just a quick negotiation and complete. Both of us are happy. I am so TIRED of games. Life does not have to be that hard. This is supposed to be a hobby of enjoyment, not stress. I get enough of that in all other areas of my life, I don't need it here. Thanks Mike for an insightful look at the hobby and for making one moment last week tolerable...

RK

[geoff]

To me its just what I like collecting.Plus Bats are the first Game Used Items that I started collecting and then went from there.But Bats are my passion in the Game Used World.