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View Full Version : 34" '84-'86 Ripken on ebay Heritage - Malta /Taube / PSA LOA



ripkengamers
04-29-2007, 09:33 AM
Here is a link to the Heritage Live Auction on eBay:

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/19406-1984-86-Cal-Ripken-Game-Used-Bat-Tremendous-gam_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ28270QQihZ007QQitem Z170103238757QQrdZ1

Item description is as follows:

1984-86 Cal Ripken Game Used Bat. Tremendous game use on an early gamer from this new Hall of Famer. This Louisville Slugger hickory finish model P72 bat exhibits ball and stitch marks covering the barrel. There are many visible dings and scratches visible on the barrel. The handle has been spiral taped approximately thirteen inches to enhance the grip. Ripken's number eight is on the knob in black marker. It weighs thirty-two ounces and is thirty-four inches long. PSA gives in a GU8 grade. It was given to a relative of the Minnesota Twins equipment manager. LOA from Taube & Malta.</B>
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After many threads on this auction site stating the various batting records for Cal Ripken Jr., I don't recall ANY of those stating that he used a 34" bat or weights less than 33oz for game use! I'm somewhat surprised to see this listing for a 34" and that the LOA comes from Mr Malta!

I'm just wondering what others have to say about this? :confused:

Hopefully Mike Specht can chime in on this one.

MSpecht
04-29-2007, 11:47 AM
Hi Dan--

Cal Jr's factory records show the following orders of 34 inch bats shipped to him for his professional use:

8/18/83 P72 34 in / 32 oz Flame Treated Finish 12 bats

1/16/86 P72 34 in / 34 oz Flame Treated 2 bats (sent to Baseball Miscellaneous with specified length and weight, thus presumed to be for his professional use)

Other orders of 34 inch bats (various models) refelcted throughout Cal's records were sent to BB Promotions or BB Miscellaneous without a specified weight -- thus presumed to not be for his professional use-- and to a variety of clearly promotional entities such as Tufton Group, Baseball Express, etc.

In this case, it is likely that this P72 (Ripken's Pro Stock model) is detailed by John and Vince in the LOA as having a significant number of Ripken individual player game use characteristics that can cumulatively be attributed to Cal.

As previously discussed on the forum, it would be great if either a link to the LOA (directly from the on-line catalogue) or, in the case of Ebay posts, a transcript of relevant portions of the LOA would be made available..

Mike Jackitout7@aol.com






.

mr.miracle
04-29-2007, 04:43 PM
Here is a link to the Heritage Live Auction on eBay:

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/19406-1984-86-Cal-Ripken-Game-Used-Bat-Tremendous-gam_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ28270QQihZ007QQitem Z170103238757QQrdZ1

Item description is as follows:

1984-86 Cal Ripken Game Used Bat. Tremendous game use on an early gamer from this new Hall of Famer. This Louisville Slugger hickory finish model P72 bat exhibits ball and stitch marks covering the barrel. There are many visible dings and scratches visible on the barrel. The handle has been spiral taped approximately thirteen inches to enhance the grip. Ripken's number eight is on the knob in black marker. It weighs thirty-two ounces and is thirty-four inches long. PSA gives in a GU8 grade. It was given to a relative of the Minnesota Twins equipment manager. LOA from Taube & Malta.</B>
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After many threads on this auction site stating the various batting records for Cal Ripken Jr., I don't recall ANY of those stating that he used a 34" bat or weights less than 33oz for game use! I'm somewhat surprised to see this listing for a 34" and that the LOA comes from Mr Malta!

I'm just wondering what others have to say about this? :confused:

Hopefully Mike Specht can chime in on this one.



Dan and Mike:

I was wondering the very same thing when I saw this bat with the 34" length. Does not appear to match factory shipping records based on finish and since so very few bats were ever shipped to Cal in a 34" length this really set off the alarm bells. This bat got a really solid score from John and Vince despite it not matching factory records which as you pointed out Mike, must have been due to it matching so many Ripken traits.

ironmanfan
04-29-2007, 07:24 PM
That is Cal's writing on the knob

justinV
04-29-2007, 09:17 PM
Gentlemen:
Did Cal Ripken ever use 34" bats??...anything is possible, but according to info received/saw first & second hand...and during my brief time around the Ripken's....1983-88, I would be careful.
Cal did ordered bats for his brother, yes...( especially in Billy's early playing years in the minors -83 to 86-and he always used 34")... due to Billy's whinning & belief that Cal got better wood from the factory. When he came up to the majors in the mid 80's, Billy like to tape his bats and heavily around the knob base, which Cal did not... (prefered tar with batting gloves) Billy also like to write things on his knob other then his player number, depending on his mood, but mostly "RIP". Also his game model P-72 was branded "Cal Ripken jr "on the barrel and was finish in a netural white ash color, which I witness during games in during the 87-88 seasons. I got one after a game and had Cal autograph it for my then girlfriend... (who is now my wife) She later sold it, (yes without my knowledge) to her boss. So there is a 34" Cal Ripken Jr. autographed gameused bat, with "Rip" on the knob out there in hobbyworld, which isn't what it looks like!!! But I digress...
How things progress later in Billy's bat ordering history & whevther he ever had his own branded model, I have no direct knowledge of.
During coversations with Cal, I remember him saying his preference was 35 to 35 & 1/2 " bats and weight's about 32-34 ozs depending on the time of the year. His use of the slightly longer bat was for pitchers who had nasty curve balls and "I could bail a bit and still cover the outside of the plate."
Another werid thing was his original likeness for dark colored bats was due to his thinking it was harder for infielders to see the ball come off the bat, especially a night. He felt it give him an edge.
Hope this helps a bit.

justinV
04-29-2007, 09:48 PM
Gentlemen:
Did Cal Ripken ever use 34" bats??...anything is possible, but according to info received/saw first & second hand...and during my brief time around the Ripken's....1983-88, I would be careful.
Cal did ordered bats for his brother, yes...( especially in Billy's early playing years in the minors -83 to 86-and he always used 34")... due to Billy's whinning & belief that Cal got better wood from the factory. When he came up to the majors in the mid 80's, Billy like to tape his bats and heavily around the knob base, which Cal did not... (prefered tar with batting gloves) Billy also like to write things on his knob other then his player number, depending on his mood, but mostly "RIP". Also his game model P-72 was branded "Cal Ripken jr "on the barrel and was finish in a netural white ash color, which I witness during games in during the 87-88 seasons. I got one after a game and had Cal autograph it for my then girlfriend... (who is now my wife) She later sold it, (yes without my knowledge) to her boss. So there is a 34" Cal Ripken Jr. autographed gameused bat, with "Rip" on the knob out there in hobbyworld, which isn't what it looks like!!! But I digress...
How things progress later in Billy's bat ordering history & whevther he ever had his own branded model, I have no direct knowledge of.
During coversations with Cal, I remember him saying his preference was 35 to 35 & 1/2 " bats and weight's about 32-34 ozs depending on the time of the year. His use of the slightly longer bat was for pitchers who had nasty curve balls and "I could bail a bit and still cover the outside of the plate."
Another werid thing was his original likeness for dark colored bats was due to his thinking it was harder for infielders to see the ball come off the bat, especially a night. He felt it give him an edge.
Hope this helps a bit.

OOP's...I've just been told that she didn't sell it at the time,(early 90's) her boss needed a birthday gift for his son & she give it to him. So in this public forum, I stand corrected. Sorry honey!

mr.miracle
04-30-2007, 10:21 AM
Gentlemen:
Did Cal Ripken ever use 34" bats??...anything is possible, but according to info received/saw first & second hand...and during my brief time around the Ripken's....1983-88, I would be careful.
Cal did ordered bats for his brother, yes...( especially in Billy's early playing years in the minors -83 to 86-and he always used 34")... due to Billy's whinning & belief that Cal got better wood from the factory. When he came up to the majors in the mid 80's, Billy like to tape his bats and heavily around the knob base, which Cal did not... (prefered tar with batting gloves) Billy also like to write things on his knob other then his player number, depending on his mood, but mostly "RIP". Also his game model P-72 was branded "Cal Ripken jr "on the barrel and was finish in a netural white ash color, which I witness during games in during the 87-88 seasons. I got one after a game and had Cal autograph it for my then girlfriend... (who is now my wife) She later sold it, (yes without my knowledge) to her boss. So there is a 34" Cal Ripken Jr. autographed gameused bat, with "Rip" on the knob out there in hobbyworld, which isn't what it looks like!!! But I digress...
How things progress later in Billy's bat ordering history & whevther he ever had his own branded model, I have no direct knowledge of.
During coversations with Cal, I remember him saying his preference was 35 to 35 & 1/2 " bats and weight's about 32-34 ozs depending on the time of the year. His use of the slightly longer bat was for pitchers who had nasty curve balls and "I could bail a bit and still cover the outside of the plate."
Another werid thing was his original likeness for dark colored bats was due to his thinking it was harder for infielders to see the ball come off the bat, especially a night. He felt it give him an edge.
Hope this helps a bit.


Hello Justin and welcome to the forum. Did you at one time work for the Orioles? We have had discussions regarding Cal's use of taped handles on his bats. While he might not have done it often, Cal did tape his bat handles as we have seen from several photos provided by members as well as several examples of game used bats that match his use patterns to a tee as well as the order records to back them up. The question here would be that this bat is a hickory finish which matches the type of dark finish that Cal seemed to prefer for much of his career. Additionally, the bat has Cal's number 8 on the knob not Bill's number or Rip etc. Is it possible that Cal ordered this bat for Bill and added his number to the knob? Anything is possible but as pointed out, the fact that Cal rarely ever ordered 34 inch bats during his career only 2 shipments total would make this bat a bit questionable. I agree with Mike Specht, Vince and John would have had to grade this bat so high based upon what they felt were the strong Cal Ripken use traits that this bat must exhibit.

A very interesting piece to say the least. It would seem there are more questions than solid answers.

ironmanfan
06-02-2007, 11:39 AM
I apologizing for resurrecting this post, but I wanted to confirm a few things before putting it to writing. I have seen numerous photos of Billy Ripken during his minor league days and have a couple of his minor league bats and they were noted simply on the barrel as "Ripken" but not model P72's (mostly R161 and M110).

Yesterday I attended a charity golf outing that Billy attended as well and during the luncheon afterwards, I ask him a few questions about his game bats (I own over 20 of them) and more speficially did Cal ever order any bats for him during his minor league playing days? Bill responded with a no, that he never got any of his bats from Cal and he was satisified from what he got from the factory. He did say from time to time, his brother or father would ship him bats from the parent club that were used, but not cracked (no one particular player) and those bats would be used by the entire club usually during BP.

I do know that Billy did mark a lot of equpment with a "Rip." The only reason I wanted to point this story out was wanting to exclude the possibility of the 34" Ripken bat in the auction was one that could have used by Billy in the minor leagues.