Is this a photomatch

[ndevlin]

Actually Rudy, I do agree with you for the most part. I dont know about this particular thread and nothing against anyone in this thread either, but most of the time people throw so called photomatches on here that show no substantial evidence of a match.

Nothing against the members, but here are some examples I dont quite get......

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_f...&postcount=180

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_f...&postcount=149

[cigarman44]

Come on! That Thome bat is without a doubt a match!

[indyred]

That Bay bat looks like a solid match. The screen shot shows that exact same ball mark with seam impression. I wish I could that good of screen shots.

[kingjammy24]

Actually Rudy, I do agree with you for the most part. I dont know about this particular thread and nothing against anyone in this thread either, but most of the time people throw so called photomatches on here that show no substantial evidence of a match.

Nothing against the members, but here are some examples I dont quite get......

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_f...&postcount=180

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_f...&postcount=149

the thome bat: i can't even tell what's being circled. the LVS/M9 logo? thome's replica signature and team label on the barrel? ie: the features that are stamped on dozens of bats that were shipped to him that year.

remember that kid who came on here a year or so ago and said he could "photomatch anything" and charged $5? all he ended up doing was circling nonsense. he'd circle the LVS center label and he'd circle a model number. all sorts of drivel. one bat would have 10 ballmarks on it and the other would have 2 and coincidentally they'd share 1 ballmark in roughly the same spot and he'd circle that one.

anyway, here's the thread i was referring to earlier:

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_f...d.php?p=105741

for reference sake, i made an composite of the images included in the post:



with all due respect, what exactly am i supposed to be looking at here?

the fact that both bats are black? i can barely see any distinguishing marks on the getty photos. what possible conclusion could anyone realistically come to via those photos? anything beyond the fact that russell martin used black bats and made contact with some of them would be a massive stretch.

i mean think of it; players go through dozens of identical bats in a season and hit a zillion balls with them. many of them are going to show very similar ballmarks in very similar places. very little certainty can be ascertained from a small, blurry photo taken 40 ft away. you can point vague similarities but that's all they are without some serious hardcore matching. look, barry meisel/meigray offer a photomatching service. they charge a good amount. i once inquired with him about it and he quoted me an average price of $100-$200. what you'll get in return though is an actual, honest to god photomatch where you can look at the 11x14 crystal clear, hi-res photo provided and your item and not have a single doubt that it's obviously the same item. it's not going to be some 2" x 3" blurry mlb.tv screenshot matching one vague, fuzzy blob to a ballmark on your bat requiring you to pray and hope that that fuzzy blob is indeed even a ballmark and the very same exact one at that. from the photos you can barely make anything out so hope and prayer is all you've got left with some of these "photomatches". you can't even see any of the details of the specific marks. some of them are as conclusive as the sasquatch videos floating around. at least in the sasquatch videos, i can make out some of the details.

a photomatch significantly raises the value of a piece. truthfully, i'd rather have a solid photomatch than ironclad provenance. it's disingenous to think that pieces are increasing in value with some of these garbage "matches".

rudy.

[kudu]

I took the NESN photo and lightened it up a bit so that the ballmarks show better.



And you can kinda see the black line going through the ballmark, like you were saying. I still think the getty image on the right is your best bet for a photomatch.