Question about Auction Description....

[bigtruck260]

This is from a major auction house that is currently having an auction.

I am not by any means an expert - can someone please help me with this description:

This Hillerich and Bradsby Louisville Slugger bat was used by the Yankee Clipper between the 1950 and 1960 season. The bat is 34 inches and weighs 33 ounces. The bat exhibits great use including ball and lace marks. This bat does have a hairline crack on the handle. The bat is a team indexed bat. DiMaggio used this bat for so many games the wood grain displays swelling. This beautiful ash bat is truly one to marvel at. The knob displays the model number of D29. This is a great bat from one of the games all time best players.

I am curious as to the value differential between a team indexed bat - and a bat that is known to have been used by a certain player via ordering records, etc. Did Dimaggio use a Ruth (large) knob? The bat was graded A6.5

Thanks for any help.

[yanks12025]

I said the same thing in another post. I don't get how they say it's game used even though it don't match his records. And the same goes for the Williams and the Mantle bats they are selling.

[MSpecht]

Hi Dave--


The value between a team index bat (could have been ordered by any team, used by any player, etc etc ) and a professional model that matches a player's ordering records and displays that player's personal use characteristics is considerable. In this case, you figure that this bat, which doesn't even match DiMaggio's shipping records in terms of length, etc, is maybe worth $150 to $ 200 (to the right person.) The value of a legit DiMaggio gamer is certainly worth at least 100 times that.

The description of this bat (and the others noted above) is a result of very creative writing by the auction house, and a complete lack of knowledge by the author of what they are actually looking at. To be fair, a review of the MEARS letter (305157) that accompanies it says that the bat is a Team Index Bat in the title of the letter as well as the body, and additionally states that it does not match DiMaggio's docmented ordering records. That information can also be found on this site in the Game Used Library section.


Clearly, the bat is a professional model that was used by somebody, just not DiMaggio. Actually, as we preach on GUU all the time, doing your homework and compiling information on a particular item will give you a reasonable idea of the POSSIBILITY or PROBABILITY that an item is what it is claimed to be. As there are no true absolutes in this hobby, I would put the possibility that DiMaggio ever used ( saw, touched, etc) this bat at well under one percent.


Given the fact that D29 is also DiMaggio's Pro Stock model, there is no chance that this team index bat can be attributed to use by any specific player on any specific team, either Major League or Minor League. To make the statements in the auction description that suggest (state) that DiMaggio used this bat is, at its best, ignorant, and, at its worst, fraud.


Sometimes, after several years of activity on this forum, it is easy to take for granted what has been said in the past and forget that newer members of the forum are not quite up to date on what has preceded. In this case, the writer of the auction description would be well advised to do a search on GUU for the topic 'team index bats" and see the many posts both Jim Caravello and I have made on this topic before writing ignorant, mis-leading garbage such as this.


Just my opinion.


Mike jackitout7@aol.com

[MSpecht]

Here are a couple posts that provide a decent primer on Team Index Bats and suggest the questions that you may want to ask yourself, such as "Why would I pay $ 5,000.00 for a bat that (insert name here--- Caravello, Bushing, Specht, Malta, Taube, Kinunen, etc) would not pay $ 25.00 for ?"



http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=17679&highlight=team+index+bats


http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=8663&highlight=team+index+bats


http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/blog/post.php?topic=178


http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/blog/post.php?topic=179

Mike jackitout7@aol.com

[bigtruck260]

Thanks for the help Mike - info like this not only helps me...but some other folks that have been asking me questions that might not have the resources. Great job, and much appreciated!

Dave

[trsent]

Thanks for the help Mike - info like this not only helps me...but some other folks that have been asking me questions that might not have the resources. Great job, and much appreciated!

Dave

Dave, where is this item being sold?

[MSpecht]

Hi Joel--

That would be Historic Auctions where the Mantle and Williams team index bats have received bids, and the DiMaggio team index bat, to this point, has not.

Mike jackitout7@aol.com

[bigtruck260]

Hi Joel--

That would be Historic Auctions where the Mantle and Williams team index bats have received bids, and the DiMaggio team index bat, to this point, has not.

Mike jackitout7@aol.com

The reason I did not list the link is that I believe Historic has an automatic block when you access a link posted here...and I was trying to be fair by not naming names...

[MSpecht]

No problem Dave. I just want to make the info available to anyone on the forum who happens to come across those bats and may not realize they are the subject of this thread.

Mike jackitout7@aol.com