Photomatch opinions requested on Billy Butler Bat.

[CampWest]

This is my first real attempt to lock down a photo match. I haven't yet taken the time to create a comparison my Mother's Day bat, though I do have it definitively matched.

Submitted for your opinion is a pretty well hammered Billy Butler Phoenix maple bat. According to MLB Authenticity the bat was broken on 9.11.2009 at Cleveland. The attempted match is to an AP photo from a game vs Detroit on 9.9.2009 - that game Billy went 3-5 with 3 doubles including #45 on the season. There are a couple ball marks circled in red that occur on my bat, but not in the photo, which seems logical if the bat was potentially used in two more games. Also, there are many items circled in blue that appear to match very closely on size, shape, location and direction.

I think its pretty close to a lock, but wanted to get some additional opinions before closing down my project. Obviously I could possibly do much better with a higher resolution image without watermarks, but this AP image is all I have found so far.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[spartakid]

One thing I noticed is that the line you circled below the centerband ion your bat is quite straight and the one in the picture has a distinct wave shape, quite similar to this ~ Although some of the other markings appear to match up.

[CampWest]

One thing I noticed is that the line you circled below the centerband ion your bat is quite straight and the one in the picture has a distinct wave shape, quite similar to this ~ Although some of the other markings appear to match up.

Good eye. I will fix that circle... the difference does appear to me to be additional pine tar on the bat added after the photo was taken.

[ksuchad]

Looks like a match to me.

[CampWest]

I was able to get the same pic without the watermarks off MLB's game photos, had to print to pdf then use Acrobat's snapshot and paste into a jpg... tricky.. no right click save image.

[Manram]

I would say it's a match.

[MichaelofSF]

sweet bat