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2002 Pujols bat
I recently acquired a 2002 Pujols game-used bat with a certificate from LaRussa's ARF dated 11/16/02. Included with the COA was the auction sheet that was displayed with the bat at the auction. I was told the photo on the auction sheet showed Pujols breaking the actual bat being auctioned. Here's the auction sheet:
I was skeptical, so when the bat arrived, I tried to find the actual photo online. It wasn't a Getty shot, but I eventually found it searching images on Google. The best part was, the image online wasn't cropped and I could see bunting on the wall in the background. That tipped me off that the shot was taken during the post season.
After more research, I learned the Cards played three home games during the post season in 2002. In two of those games (vs. SF in the LCS), Pujols used blue and white batting gloves and was clean shaven. But, in the other game -- game 3 of the DCS vs. Arizona -- everything matched up. Best of all, I found a shot on Getty of the same at-bat as the other photo from a different angle.
Albert batted four times in that game on 10/5/02... walked twice, singled in the third and flew out in the fifth. Both batted balls went to center field, which is where he's looking in the top photo. I can't narrow this down to the single or the fly out, but I'm feeling good my bat was used for one (or both) of them.
Here are a couple shots of the bat -- note the location of the crack relative to the photos above:
There are a couple other pieces of into worth mentioning. First, Pujols didn't use uncupped ash bats often in 2002, so that really narrowed down the search. And second, Pujols received only 6 uncupped ash C243 bats in 2002 -- on September 13. Given the date of the game in the photos and the date of the auction, the time frame is appropriate.
Other than the pine tar pattern and the location of the crack, there's not much else to go on in terms of a positive photo match. In the top photo, there seems to be quite a bit of writing on the knob, which also would be consistent with my bat. Without a higher-resolution photo, I can't say for sure. However, given the type of bat, the time frame, the provenance, the visual evidence and the odds that another unfinished/uncupped ash LS would break in the same location, I think my bat is the same bat in the photos.
I recently acquired a 2002 Pujols game-used bat with a certificate from LaRussa's ARF dated 11/16/02. Included with the COA was the auction sheet that was displayed with the bat at the auction. I was told the photo on the auction sheet showed Pujols breaking the actual bat being auctioned. Here's the auction sheet:
I was skeptical, so when the bat arrived, I tried to find the actual photo online. It wasn't a Getty shot, but I eventually found it searching images on Google. The best part was, the image online wasn't cropped and I could see bunting on the wall in the background. That tipped me off that the shot was taken during the post season.
After more research, I learned the Cards played three home games during the post season in 2002. In two of those games (vs. SF in the LCS), Pujols used blue and white batting gloves and was clean shaven. But, in the other game -- game 3 of the DCS vs. Arizona -- everything matched up. Best of all, I found a shot on Getty of the same at-bat as the other photo from a different angle.
Albert batted four times in that game on 10/5/02... walked twice, singled in the third and flew out in the fifth. Both batted balls went to center field, which is where he's looking in the top photo. I can't narrow this down to the single or the fly out, but I'm feeling good my bat was used for one (or both) of them.
Here are a couple shots of the bat -- note the location of the crack relative to the photos above:
There are a couple other pieces of into worth mentioning. First, Pujols didn't use uncupped ash bats often in 2002, so that really narrowed down the search. And second, Pujols received only 6 uncupped ash C243 bats in 2002 -- on September 13. Given the date of the game in the photos and the date of the auction, the time frame is appropriate.
Other than the pine tar pattern and the location of the crack, there's not much else to go on in terms of a positive photo match. In the top photo, there seems to be quite a bit of writing on the knob, which also would be consistent with my bat. Without a higher-resolution photo, I can't say for sure. However, given the type of bat, the time frame, the provenance, the visual evidence and the odds that another unfinished/uncupped ash LS would break in the same location, I think my bat is the same bat in the photos.
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