Preston Wilson using a Pujols bat

[astros*bats]

During today's Astros game, outfielder Preston Wilson took a hack at a pitch and lost his bat which went flying into the stands. We have all seen this situation before....The bat was caught by a lucky fan and Wilson proceeded over to get his gamer back and trade it for a different bat. The bat that was thrown into the stands was a Albert Pujols natural SAM bat that Pujols had given Wilson to use.

My question is would you have traded THAT bat back? Do you even think the fan had time to check and look at the bat to see it was a Pujols bat before Preston walked over to get it back? Sure, if it was a Preston Wilson model bat you probably would trade it back to him for a different bat, but a Pujols bat? I think I would have held on to that one.

[Mike Heffner]

Chris,

That is a interesting note. There is a good chance that Pujols used that bat also. I was lucky enough to have been in the Cardinal's clubhouse last year on several ocassions and took note that Pujols had several (5 or 6) bats in his locker with numbers other than 5 on the knobs. Upon further inspection I also noticed that some of the other Cardinals players had Albert's bats (with 5 on the knobs) in their lockers. At first I thought that this was just some sort of gift giving exercise. I then asked the clubhouse manager and he told me that Albert likes to "borrow" and trade bats with other players and he actually uses them as do the other players who take his bats in trade. I knew that players sometimes used other players bats but I had no idea that it occured to this extent until I saw it with my own two eyes.

Mike Heffner

[drkgee]

here's what you are talking about:

http://webpages.charter.net/birdbats/Birdbats/Notes%20and%20Articles/Pujols%20bat%20buyers%20guide.htm