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I'm always on the lookout for the odd and unusual in GU, and am particularly interested in items for overseas. I've got one Puerto Rican Winter League bat (used by Carlos Baerga) and a Dominican League bat that Elian Herrera brought to the States, in my collection...but till now, nothing from Europe.
On Wednesday, I was picking up a nice little group of ST bats, and I saw a blue & orangish-red Sam bat - enough, in itself, to get my attention. The guy selling me the bats said, "Yeah, it's weird that it doesn't have a player name on it", and he was right - just the name "San Marino". I didn't buy it then, but the more I thought about it - especially after I'd Googled "San Marino baseball" - the more I wanted it, and I picked it up on Friday.
All doubts about the bat's origins were dispelled when I saw the team colors.
Of course, the Italians played in the WBC here earlier this year, but this bat is more than two years old...and it was mixed in with a huge lot of bats from Spring Training at the various fields around the Phoenix area. My best guess is that either some San Marino player was a non-roster invitee by one of the clubs, sometime in the past couple of years, or a minor league prospect in ST has played recently for San Marino. The guy from whom I got the bat thinks it might have come from the field where the Dodgers have their ST. Looks like my next research project.
On Wednesday, I was picking up a nice little group of ST bats, and I saw a blue & orangish-red Sam bat - enough, in itself, to get my attention. The guy selling me the bats said, "Yeah, it's weird that it doesn't have a player name on it", and he was right - just the name "San Marino". I didn't buy it then, but the more I thought about it - especially after I'd Googled "San Marino baseball" - the more I wanted it, and I picked it up on Friday.
All doubts about the bat's origins were dispelled when I saw the team colors.
Of course, the Italians played in the WBC here earlier this year, but this bat is more than two years old...and it was mixed in with a huge lot of bats from Spring Training at the various fields around the Phoenix area. My best guess is that either some San Marino player was a non-roster invitee by one of the clubs, sometime in the past couple of years, or a minor league prospect in ST has played recently for San Marino. The guy from whom I got the bat thinks it might have come from the field where the Dodgers have their ST. Looks like my next research project.
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