Joe Mauer bat on Ebay

[subway22]

Anyone have any thoughts of this bat? With the tape on the handle and knob, etc etc.....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...id=p2761.l1259

[Tay1038]

Hi,
I've owned one Rawlings Black Mauer bat from 2007 I think and seen another legit one from 2006. Both purchased from the Pro Shop. Neither had a tape handle however that looks a lot like Mauer's tape job from early in his career. I personally thought Mauer tapped his handle only during his first two seasons (2004 & 2005). I've never seen a 2006 tapped bat and I've owned more than 10 Mauer bats and have seen a dozen more.

My guess is that this bat was from 2006 Spring Training. The seller is from Florida so that only solidifies my assumption in my opinion.

Good Luck.

[subway22]

here is a response from someone that used to own this bat.....


"I used to own this Mauer bat about a month or so ago. I bought it off Ebay from a guy that had a few other bats as well that I purchased. The other bats I purchased had the incorrect numbers on the knob the seller did not say in his auctions. When I received this Mauer, I examined it for about 3 minutes and put it back in the box to be returned to the seller.

The bat basically showed no use. It only had one ball mark. Mauer was/is a huge supporter of tar. There is NOT one spec of tar on that bat. Clean as a whistle. As for the taped knob, I dont know if Mauer did that or not at this time? As for the taped handle, that is actually medical tape. Not sure if it was put on there afterwards or not, but that was enough for me to pass on the bat altogether, along with the tar issue. Also, the batch date is rather low, indicating that this bat is more than likely a spring training bat, if it was even ever used by Mauer.

Once it was returned, the seller relisted it a few times until it was sold to the person that has it now. I asked the person that has it now a few questions and he seems to think that the bat was used by Mauer because "the previous owner said it was." He also said he has "photomatches" of Mauer using this bat. Yep, he said photomatches, not style matches. Hes so confident that the bat was used by Mauer that he made his own LOA in a matter of days from the purchase. And he has all of this proven from the previous owner, the same previous owner that I sent the bat back to!

I would definitely stay away from this bat, but you know someone will drop big bucks on it. Lets put it this way....I spent about $200 on the bat, and I sent it back within minutes of opening the box.