Pujols Rookie Bat Steal?

[nomah!]

If this is truly a rookie year bat. Why did it auction off so cheaply?
http://cgi.ebay.com/Albert-Pujols-Ga...QQcmdZViewItem

Item number: 290223095679

[cjmedina1]

Jeff Birdbats can answer that question probably better than anyone.

Carlie Medina III
carliemedinaiii@sbcglobal.net

[Jags Fan Dan]

One quick guess would be because it was cracked and repaired. I think that would put alot of people off.

[Birdbats]

I received a few e-mails about that bat... told everyone I didn't see any obvious red flags from the photos. It's hard to judge black bats from photos, in terms of where the ball marks are, the pine tar pattern, etc... but I didn't see anything that screamed "stay away." The only thing that bothered me a little was the lack of a knob sticker (the red maple leaf in a white circle that is typical on Sam Bats). Makes me wonder if another number was written on that sticker before it was removed (as Albert often gave bats to other players). I have no way of knowing, but it was the one thing that gave me pause. It's possible the buyer got one helluva steal. I'm not sure why other buyers avoided this one, but nobody who contacted me mentioned the repair. A few did mention they couldn't find any photos (on Getty or elsewhere) of Albert using a black Sam Bat in 2001. I didn't track his bat use back then, so I wasn't able to fill in the gaps between the known photos.

[nomah!]

Thanks for your thoughts Jeff

[byergo]

$750 for a cracked/repaired bat of a modern player who is still cranking out bats by the dozens, dramatically overhyped, and whose off the chart numbers are very likely chemically enhanced is not a hell of a bargain by any stretch of the imagination. Just to set the record straight.

Looks like a fully realized price to me.