Likely Doctored bat

[LarryWalkerFan]

Hey all, I haven't been around in a while. I'm glad Larry finally made the HOF.

Anyway, I had purchased this bat in 2013 from MuseumBats ("CP Johnson"), and he claims the bat was used during interleague play.

Now, the issues I have with the bat (and I really should have known when I bought it) are a few.

First off, if I understand correctly, MLB switched to the ROMLB balls in 2000, so an NL bat (Larry Walker) would need to have been used in 1999 to have AL ball marks on it.

Second, if, again, I understand correctly, the MLB batterman filled in logo on the Louisville Slugger bats were introduced in the second half of 2000.

Given those two things, this bat would be a 2000/2001 bat that was somehow used during interleague play in 1999, specifically during the Rangers (11-13 June) and As (18-20 July) series.

I don't know how doctored the bat is, but, at the least, the usage looks doctored. I have no way of contacting him to see if he'd still give a refund, but you can clearly see in the letter that he identifies the blue ballmark, so he was aware that there *shouldn't* have been those lighter blue marks on the bat.

[TwinLakesPark]

Out of curiosity, what did you pay for the bat 7 years ago?

[LarryWalkerFan]

I was able to get in touch with MuseumBats through eBay messaging. I have no idea what I paid for the bat, but the seller says it was $95. He has offered to refund me the $95, if I pay for return shipping from Hawaii. Initially when he asked what I wanted for a refund, I said that I would probably have paid $200 or so for a Walker gamer back then. He insisted that he sold them for $100 back then, so I thought I should try to see if I had purchased the bat from my old account. Turns out I had. I told him this, at which point he said I bought it for $95. I never contested this. I simply said I would just need a postage label from him.

He said I would need to pay return shipping, since I was attempting to return a bat from seven years ago.

He said that he was directed to my post by two well respected members here.

He asked me to write this and explain that I purchased the bat 7 years ago (2013, as shown in the LoA). Also, he said that I have two user IDs on eBay, which led to the confusion.

Anyway, my concern is that, since the bat isn't representative what I purchased (a game used 1999 bat), shouldn't the seller be responsible for return shipping? It's not like I'm demanding a refund for something I didn't like. I'm trying to get refunded what I paid (again, I'm fine with the $95 he offered). I don't feel it's my obligation to have to pay to ship it back to the seller, since it is now clear that the bat cannot possibly have been a gamer (2000-2001 manufacturing date) and AL ball transfer marks.

Anyway, I'm following up, again, because he told me to, saying I threw him under the bus

[LarryWalkerFan]

Museumbats says that he isn't registered here, so I would really hope that one or both of the two buddies he mentions would share his version of events. He says that they don't match mine.

[TwinLakesPark]

If you have a seller that is willing to refund your $95 purchase from 7 years ago, I think that is pretty honorable on their part. I also don't think it is all that unreasonable that you should pay for the shipping.

You probably could have posted the bat for sale on here or eBay for 5x that price and the buyer would have paid for shipping....

[ndevlin]

Do you have photos of the bat?

[LarryWalkerFan]

Do you have photos of the bat?]9010190102901039010490105

[LarryWalkerFan]

If you have a seller that is willing to refund your $95 purchase from 7 years ago, I think that is pretty honorable on their part. I also don't think it is all that unreasonable that you should pay for the shipping.

You probably could have posted the bat for sale on here or eBay for 5x that price and the buyer would have paid for shipping....

You're right about the refund, if I were simply changing my mind, but this is about authenticity. As for the 5x comment, also, probably right, but I wouldn't feel right selling the bat to someone else. Even if I disclosed that the bat use indicates it never was used in a MLB game.90106
90107

Either way, I'm dropping this, as it seems the one respondent agrees with the seller that I should have to pay return shipping to get the likely doctored bat back to the original seller.

[LarryWalkerFan]

CP Johnson has refunded me and paid the return shipping. He is in possession of the bat, and he has asked that this thread be removed. My issue has been resolved, so I'm also okay with the thread being closed/removed.

[metsbats]

Closing thread as issue is resolved as per OP.