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33bird
10-01-2006, 03:57 PM
Does it ever scare anybody that bats can be doctored up to appear game used? Go hit some baseballs with it. Buy some Pine tar and apply it like the player applies it to his bats. My question is: Is there more to pine tar application than is thought? Do players mix it different. Is it mixed? Are there different kinds? Is it different now than 30 years ago?
Any info would be appreciated.

stlbats
10-01-2006, 08:38 PM
Hello. There are several kinds of pine tar. there is pine tar on a rag, in a tube and also a thick liquid in a bottle. and also mota stick, which leaves sort of a white residue (like Jeter bats, some Arod bats). Most regular pine tar gives the same end result.

I am always suspicious of a bat with heavy tar if the tar is still very wet. Most times it will remain tacky, but if it looks freshly applied, it probably is. If it will come off on your hands its pretty fresh.

I once purchased a 2001 Luis Gonzalez WS bat. I bought it off ebay in 2004 I think. The bat showed up with no use whatsoever (was for sure postseason issued though) and had the thickest, wettest tar ever. To be over 3 yrs old, in my opinion, it was definately doctored, and I sent it back for a refund. Most pine tar dries relatively fast in most conditions.

Thanks
jason

scottanservitz
10-01-2006, 08:46 PM
First off, I don't claim to be an expert by any stretch. Second, this is an excellent question that I have thought about myself. Now my unprofessional observations from bats in my collection and those that I have seen over the years is this, first about pine tar. I think that bats that are older, say maybe 10 to 15 years and older that the pine tar on authentic and original bats looks old and doesn't have much stickiness left. The wood shows a bit of discoloration and the tar tends to flake off in spots. This generally happens to the places where the players' hands would be. I have 3 or 4 bats in this category and all of them have these traits to them. Secondly, any ball marks that show tend to have some seam marks showing, which to me would indicate a faster pitch speed. Although the older bats seem to be made of better wood, so this is a factor as well. I would think to do this somebody would have to hit 85 to 90 mph pitches. Tough to do by the average person. I would also like to see some of the ink from MLB balls as well, but I really don't know about older balls compared to newer, which I have seen this more on the newer bats. Also, cracks in my opinion tend to add authenticity due to it is harder to crack a bat unless it is in more of a game setting. Not impossible, as I have cracked a few bats in my Little League days, (yes, I used wooden bats on occassion). Also, as far as newer bats I would think doctoring would seem to be easier to do as there are a lot better chance of finding these bats compared to older professional model bats. XBats can be purchased exactly matching ones the players use has been mentioned before on this site, by anyone. I guess what I am saying is that it would seem more difficult to doctor older bats compared to newer ones. Impossible? No. But harder. I hope this helps somewhat to this question. Anyone else have an opinion? Jim or Mike may have some better insight.
Scott