Louisville Slugger Gift Shop

[whirl]

I just returned from a road trip. The highlight was supposed to have been a visit to the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum. The tour of the factory was interesting, and the museum was nice. I only wish I could have gotten into the vault and touched all of the bats. I had to content myself with peering through the glass.
The problem arose when I visited the Gift Shop. They had on display game model bats of Jeter, Ramirez and Thome along with a few others. The placard stated that each bat was an exact replica of the bat ordered by the player, except for weight. The Ramirez card also stated that it was the same style he used in the World Series. I believe the prices were around $165. I looked at these bats several times and hefted them. They were no different from what I had seen in pictures and on auctions. I can't say anything about weight, but if they are exact replicas, I can't believe weight would be much different. Instead of being exhilarated by the visit, I left feeling a bit sick.
I put up a short message on the old Forum which showed the X Bats site. It stated that you could purchase the exact bat used by your favorite player. I resolved never to buy an X Bat of a prominent player for obvious reasons.
The recent posting regarding the doctored Canseco bat is a good illustration of my concern. I hope to get Jeter, Ramirez and Thome at some point, but any time I see one I will wonder if it came from the gift shop rather than the player. Any thoughts?

[indyred]

I live about 20 minutes from there. I've seen those bats on display. They have had models of Arod, Jeter, Thome , Ramirez ect for sale. I did notice they do have the line under the 125 to identify them as retail bats. At least last time I checked a few weeks ago. The Ramirez was a M9 model and I asked the question in here before if they have a retail marking on them. They don't underline the 125 on them. I wonder if the sticker is different somehow than a regular pro model on the M9 style. I may be in downtown Louisville tomorrow and I'll try and swing in there and check again on the labels on the gift shop bats...

[whirl]

Thanks. I hope you are right, and that I overlooked the line under the 125. I may have been so busy looking at the TPX and MLB stamps that I overlooked that.

[rose14]

I also live right across the river about 15 minutes away from the factory. I was in there a couple of weeks ago and I'm pretty sure that those bats for sale have the underlined 125.

[jon_8_us]

Very interested to here the verdict on if there are M9 retail stickers or not.I own a couple Manny M9's and sure would like to know if there is a definite difference!
jon

[astros*bats]

I have seen a M9 sticker with an underlined 125. I hope this helps. I thought that I saved the picture incase this ever came up, but apparently I didn't.

[012562]

I visited the shop at the end of 2004. I was taken aback when I saw what I thought were game model bats of Tino Martinez from the Cardinals and Luis Gonzalez from the Diamondbacks on sale in the shop. I do not recall seeing the underlined 125. They looked to me like bats ready to get delivered to the players. I inquired about them, and the employee told me they rotate through various players two at a time. Not that I would be interested in these players anyway, but I thought to myself that I was going to keep my eyes open for these bats on the market as game used or even as unused bats since somebody living near the factory could probably make a nice profit selling them. I do not recall the price being charged at the time.

Tom Duino
Aliso Viejo, CA

[brianborsch]

By the way,

For X-Bats, you can no longer get the saem bats the player uses. Now if you request that it will say "Pro Trophy on it.

[whirl]

I called the gift shop this morning and spoke with a nice lady who looked at the Jeter bat and the Ramirez bat. She told me that there was a line under 125 for Jeter. She also told me that there was no line under the 125 for the Manny bat, because it was a decal bat.