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.

[bigtruck260]

still cranking out bats by the dozens, dramatically overhyped, and whose off the chart numbers are very likely chemically enhanced

As most Cardinals guys know - Albert is not liberal with his bats...nor does he sell them to dealers like most superstars do. A legit Pujols bat is rare indeed, and the market price reflects that. According to a Pujols bat (Jeff will kill me) expert - the price was most likely low because of the lack of a knob sticker. It is nice to know that Birdbats is used as a resource for these things.

As far as the chemically enhanced stuff...

You have proof? Mitchell didn't.

It is not dramatic overhyping when a player has a "down year" and still hits .330 with 32/103/99. If Albert plays to his potential and suffers through his many injuries, he will be a HOF candidate.

Now - just to be fair Byergo, I agree that the bats of modern players are simply ridiculous (see Jeter)...Dealers are pricing things based on those projected numbers. If Albert blows his elbow out and never hits 20 homers again...some poor "investors" will be SOL...but in STL, at least - there is a demand for his stuff - and $800 for a Pujols bat is a steal if it is indeed a legit piece.

Dave

[BMH]

I have received two bats from Albert w/o the knob sticker and several more from other players with the sticker missing. The sticker is there to hide the hole left from the turning procedure SAM uses.

[bigtruck260]

I have received two bats from Albert w/o the knob sticker and several more from other players with the sticker missing. The sticker is there to hide the hole left from the turning procedure SAM uses.

I learn something new here every day.

Thanks Brian. When Jeff is not 100% about something, it usually means that something like that is kind of rare...so that's nice to know.

[fikas231]

hi, i am the owner of this bat now and all i can say is WOW!

talk about heavy game use! stich marks along the left side of the barrel, bat rack marks, pine tar just under the emblem ...the crack is consistent with a right handed hitter getting a bit jammed...expertly repaired, someone put a lot of time into this repair..

the best part is the designation from SAM marked 4/11/01...no forgery here, this is legit from Ottawa....

i have been working on the Provenance...i believe this may be the bat Pujols used to break the NL Rookie Home run record in April , and then tie the MLB record with 8.....

Pujols definately used Sam bats in 2001 as referenced in many articles, im working on the Photo proof now....

look at his 2001 MLB showdown card, it clearly shows Pujols using this model in spring training (when he was trying to make a great impression and make the team out of nowhere) I hear his trainer told him Bonds was using these Maple bats and he wanted to try and he LOVED them from day 1.....

i will post Pics when they are located, i have a few libraries working on it now for me..

i have seen some Sam bats with the Maple leaf sticker "peeling" off so that sticker not being there is not a good enough reason to call this not authentic....the butt end is not perfectly smooth and the stickers dont lay flush anyway.....