Mears: Stan Musial Game Used Team Index Bat

[Sonny25]

I'm pretty new to baseball memorabilia as a whole & was wondering if anybody had any opinions on this bat?

[MSpecht]

Hi-- welcome to the world of GU bat collecting !!! In response to your question, the first thing to do is to thoroughly understand the term "team index bat." This can easily be done by using the search function of the GUU Forums.

Basically, a team index bat is a bat that is one of a number of popular models ordered by teams in a variety of lengths and weights for the use of any of their players. Many times, the names on these bats would be of the team's star players who were under contract to Hillerich & Bradsby at the time (but not necessarily of a model or length or weight that the player specifically ordered for his own professional use.)

In this example, the bat is termed a team index bat as it does not match any specific orders made by Musial during the period of manufacture (determined by the combinastions of branding on the bat.) Thus, it is a bat that was not ordered by Musial, but likely by the team for use of any of the team's players (pitchers, minor league players, etc.) Of interest, however, is that this bat is consistent with model, length, and weight ordered by Musial during different times in his career. That makes it more desirable that a team index bat with his name on it that does not match any bat he ever ordered during his career.

Obviously, the value of a team index bat that cannot be linked to a specific player is less than a player's game used professional model that matches his records. However, that being said, when you get into collecting bats like Musial, Mantle, Williams, etc, you quickly find that the game used examples that match their personal ordering records come with a cost that would stretch many bank accounts. Thus, in order to fill a hole in your collection, a team index bat (especially one that matches a model and specs odrdered at some time by the player) is often a viable and less costly way to go.

Good luck.

Mike jackitout7@aol.com