Ray Durham game used Marucci bat help - Mystery number/markings?? (pics)

[chisox2008]

Hey guys,
I just got a nice Ray Durham GU bat in today, and I have a few questions about some markings on the knob. It has a "5" engraved in it (Durham's number his entire career), but also has a "9" written in silver sharpie next to it . Also, it's' tough to see from the picture, but it looks like behind the 5 is shaded with sharpie. Any idea why the 9 is there?

There is a date stamp of 7/8/08 on the top - does anyone know what that means? Also, on the bottom left there is a small 3 with a smaller 5 above it. And on the bottom right there is a small 1 with a smaller 1 above it.

If anyone has any idea what these markings mean, any help would be great! Thanks in advance
-Chris



pics:
entire bat:

knob:

[ronfromfresno]

The 9 most likely means that someone else used the bat. They put their #9 on the knob and whited out the #5 for Durham so Durham didn't use the bat by accident.

[chisox2008]

The 9 most likely means that someone else used the bat. They put their #9 on the knob and whited out the #5 for Durham so Durham didn't use the bat by accident.

That's what my original thought was, but I checked baseballalmanac.com and there was no player who was number 9 on the Brewers or Giants in 2008 (the 2 teams he played with that year). Any ideas?

[MarinersFan34]

I'd check the Brewers rosters for 09 and 10 since it's possible that after the season in 08 Ray left some bats behind in the clubhouse.

It's not uncommon for clubhouse supply rooms to have numerous bats from former players. The player may be gone and left some gear behind but it's still good usable lumber. It's tough to say for sure even then since player bats sometimes find their way to the minors as well.

[Dach0sen0ne]

Anyone could have used that bat. It could have been a guy in the majors or some minor leaguer. No way to really know for sure.

[Dach0sen0ne]

2009 Brewers Roster #9 Hernan Iribarren-

[chisox2008]

2009 Brewers Roster #9 Hernan Iribarren-

Yeah just saw that as well. Now I have to find a pic of him using it! That'll be tough

[tbone90]

The two numbers on the lower left and lower right are the bat length and bat weight designations, 33.5 inches and 31.1 ounces.