BP Bats VS Actual Game Bats

[FanofGriffey3]

Hi, I am new to the world of game used memorabilia and was curious about this. I have seen a few bats sold as being used during batting practice, but not during games. Do all players have one bat for BP and one for game use ? Anyway to tell by looking at the bats (other than photomatching) ? Any kind of marking or that kind of thing ? Sorry for all the questions, but in my short time here I have been really impressed with the knowledge of this board.

Chris

[Swoboda4]

It's a great question that I've never thought of before. I'm going to guess and say that a player tries out any new bats he gets in BP,to see how they feel. That he seldom would use a bat without trying it in BP first. In a past thread we were surprised to realize that a player gets about 100 bats throughout the season so again I'm guessing that he uses new bats in BP.

[godwulf]

One player I know marks his game bats with a big asterick in black sharpie on the knob - that's Luis Gonzalez. If it's an expecially favorite bat, he'll put two astericks on it. It would be nice if every player did that, of course.

[harpt]

I have seen several bats where the player has actually written "BP" on the bat...designating that bat, of course, as his batting practice bat.

What we don't know by this designation is if that bat had been used in a game previously.

[tigerdale]

that part is very tough to tell when buying....I know sometimes players tape the barrell of their bat in BP, then when they're sold....you can see where that tape was removed. also like what was stated earlier, a BP designation is written sometimes.....the bottom bat has a BP....the Shelton bat was even authenticated as a BP bat!!!

[kingjammy24]

re: the taped barrels.

yeah. what he said. they'd tape the barrels and when the tape was later removed, there'd be "tan lines" from where the tape was. i don't really know if players tape their barrels much anymore or nearly as much as they used to. i remember seeing lots of taped barrels during BP in the 80s and 90s but not so much anymore.



rudy.

[whatupyos]

For my 2 cents the best I can say is I think it depends on the player. I once saw a Nick Swisher bat auctioned off at the A's game that had BP writeen on the nob. I believe he wrote "BLS" his grandmothers initials on his game bats.

Aaron

[ryant7]

as far as the taping goes i know it was a practice that was done to keep from having the grain separation on the barrel that we commonly see thus allowing the bat to be used more than a bat that is untaped the grain separation would cause the ball not to jump off the bat as much the barrel would actually absorb the energy of the ball since it is softer when it is separated i know when i was a batboy for the bats almost every guy there taped there bats sometimes untaping and retaping before each bp so it would be good and tight. a majority of the players most of which hadnt seen any big league time yet swung pro stocks during bp that where taped up but the guys that had seen the show swung there regular bats because they could "afford" too. hope i helped a little

[Nnunnari]

I forget which year it started, but I believe all bp balls have green ink now. I once owned an Eddie Murray bat that had tape lines and green ink on the barrel, definitely a bp bat.

[FanofGriffey3]

Hey Guys, thanks for all the great responses ! Really interesting stuff.