What do you look for when buying a game used bat?

[brianborsch]

I am all for uncracked with light to heavy use. Hell, I am even into game issued bats. I just need my bat in one solid piece. I currently have a bat that has heavy use and is uncracked and caked with pine tar. It has ball marks and deep seam marks as well.

While it may not have been used in a regular season game, I know it was at least used in spring training and it is autographed by the player. I bought this from someone who knows the player so who knows, the player may give up a good bat to a friend, as players have tons of bats and can always get more. Not to mention, if you know a bat will break at some point, what does it hurt to exchange it out early? You may lose some at-bats from that one bat, but who is to say the next bat won't yield better results? It all depends on the player and their superstitions.

Brian B.

[3arod13]

I am all for uncracked with light to heavy use. Hell, I am even into game issued bats. I just need my bat in one solid piece. I currently have a bat that has heavy use and is uncracked and caked with pine tar. It has ball marks and deep seam marks as well.

While it may not have been used in a regular season game, I know it was at least used in spring training and it is autographed by the player. I bought this from someone who knows the player so who knows, the player may give up a good bat to a friend, as players have tons of bats and can always get more. Not to mention, if you know a bat will break at some point, what does it hurt to exchange it out early? You may lose some at-bats from that one bat, but who is to say the next bat won't yield better results? It all depends on the player and their superstitions.

Brian B.

Brian, ok...now you got me interested. Who is the player and can you add a pic of of the bat. I love to see massive use...caked on pine tar...ball marks, taped handles caked with pine tar, etc. We did a thread awhile back on "let's see you heaviest game used bat. It was great to see other collectors bats. There were some really nice gamers!

Regards, Tony

[geoff]

To me I love a bat that has lots of ball marks with alot of pintar or motostick and a bat still being sticky is a plus.I would rather have a uncracked bat but I do own a few uncracked bats as well.

Thanks
Geoff

[Nnunnari]

I believe a crack adds character to a bat. You can lineup 10 different cracked A-Rod C271s and they could all look very similar w/ use and tar but the cracks are what differentiate the bats and bring out the charcter. I like my bats to be cracked because I feel as though it was used during games until it couldn't be used anymore. I never understood the concept of only collecting uncracked bats- one would have to believe there are many more fakes in an uncracked collection.

[woodbat]

Hi,
Read all the posts with interest, very nice. To each his own, all valid comments. As a collector of only game used bats of the St Louis Cardinals, here is what I look for:
1. When did he play with St Louis? Does the bat match the time?
2. What was his StL uniform number(s)? Are they found on the barrel/knob?
Correct numbers are nice, but with all the bat exchanging, could be another
players number, also maybe there is no number. Look at the pine tar, ball marks, cleat marks, sometimes excessive pine tar is wrong, does the player bat right or left, when he bats is the label up or down. Do the ball marks match his batting habits? Is he a switch hitter?
3. Cracked, uncracked, broken in ?? pieces, missing pieces, etc? I personally l like a cracked bat, but donot like a missing piece or especially a chunk out the knob. I will have a bat repaired only if in pieces, exploded or cracked badly enough to cause possible injury in handling. With over 500 Cardinal bats in my collection, over 80% are cracked in varying degrees. All my needed repairs are done by Jeff Scott.
4. I guess a person could make a "fake" bat into a "gamer" by using or breaking it in some manner. But that person would have to be able to hit a major league ball traveling in excess of 80-85 MPH, several times to show correct ball contact and location of ball marks for that players bat. Pine tar application hand placement etc. To me it would be easier to take a lightly cracked and expertly repaired bat to show an "uncracked" bat.
5.Here is an example of a good cracked gamer. Mark Littell was a relief pitcher for KC 1973-77 wore #27 and #17. Moved to StL in 1978, wore 32 in 1978-79 and switched to #34 in 1980 to 1982. Since the bat is a H&B, has to be pre 1980, with the #32 on the knob, places it correctly to 1978-79 Cardinal gamer. Shows a lot of contact and is cracked. My type of bat..
6. Last but not least, if I need, or if you may need any Cardinal bat information, contact birdbats@charter.net.

Thanks
woodbat@bellsouth.net

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[woodbat]

Hi,
Read all the posts with interest, very nice. To each his own, all valid comments. As a collector of only game used bats of the St Louis Cardinals, here is what I look for:
1. When did he play with St Louis? Does the bat match the time?
2. What was his StL uniform number(s)? Are they found on the barrel/knob?
Correct numbers are nice, but with all the bat exchanging, could be another
players number, also maybe there is no number. Look at the pine tar, ball marks, cleat marks, sometimes excessive pine tar is wrong, does the player bat right or left, when he bats is the label up or down. Do the ball marks match his batting habits? Is he a switch hitter?
3. Cracked, uncracked, broken in ?? pieces, missing pieces, etc? I personally l like a cracked bat, but donot like a missing piece or especially a chunk out the knob. I will have a bat repaired only if in pieces, exploded or cracked badly enough to cause possible injury in handling. With over 500 Cardinal bats in my collection, over 80% are cracked in varying degrees. All my needed repairs are done by Jeff Scott.
4. I guess a person could make a "fake" bat into a "gamer" by using or breaking it in some manner. But that person would have to be able to hit a major league ball traveling in excess of 80-85 MPH, several times to show correct ball contact and location of ball marks for that players bat. Pine tar application hand placement etc. To me it would be easier to take a lightly cracked and expertly repaired bat to show an "uncracked" bat.
5.Here is an example of a good cracked gamer. Mark Littell was a relief pitcher for KC 1973-77 wore #27 and #17. Moved to StL in 1978, wore 32 in 1978-79 and switched to #34 in 1980 to 1982. Since the bat is a H&B, has to be pre 1980, with the #32 on the knob, places it correctly to 1978-79 Cardinal gamer. Shows a lot of contact and is cracked. My type of bat..
6. Last but not least, if I need, or if you may need any Cardinal bat information, contact birdbats@charter.net.

Thanks
woodbat@bellsouth.net

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[brianborsch]

Ok Tony,

Here is the bat I was referring to. It is a bat from my favorite player: Adrian Cardenas, who is a simple minor leaguer now, but I believe he will be a great player later.
The bat was obtained from him in early 2007 and when it was obtained it was auto'd by him as well. He told the seller that this was the first bat that he didn't crack that actually had his name on it in public circulation.
Tons of tar and ball marks, and really an overall dirty/worn bat. Looks like a perfect example of game used. Now whether or not it was used in an actual game, I am not sure, but it was at least used in spring training. I have pics of him from this season using this exact same model/color of LVS M9 bats, so I know this was his, plus the auto.

Brian B.

[Spiezio23]

I prefer cracked/broken bats. Although player issued or light use ones are fine, I like the character of a cracked bat. I don't even mind bats missing pieces of wood or completely broken in 2 or more pieces. I have one bat where the handle/knob is completely gone, it was never saved. The one thing I really don't care for in the slightest is repaired bats. To me it's altering the final state of when the player last had it. Besides, I've gotten many more comments from friends and such about the different cracks on bats than comments on oh, you've got johnny tambourine's uncracked bat, neat.

One of my all time favorite bats is one that was used and broken by Bucky Jacobsen, the handle is just shattered/splintered where the break is. I'll try to add a post with some pics later.

I do have a few that were either really cheap and I wanted a bat of the player or it was never disclosed that it was repaired and I found out after the fact.

In the end, the more cracked/broken it is, the better it is.. for me

-Jeremy

[3arod13]

Wow! I must say, I'm didn't realize how many game used bat collectors prefer cracked bats over uncracked bat. However, most of what you have said and why made me rethink my thoughts about cracked bats.

Thanks for the comments.

Regards, Tony

[3arod13]

I guess even if a bat shows tremendous use, and is cracked, you still can't assume it belonged to that player:

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_f...9713#post49713