Vince Malta Book Update

[ChrisCavalier]

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to take a quick moment to update you on the status of Vince Malta's book. I spoke with the publisher yesterday and they, along with Vince, are in the final stages of the proofing process. Once the proofing is completed, the only thing that remains is the final printing.

As of right now, the target delivery date is December 15th and they are doing everything they can to try to get the book out before the holidays. However, given the likely reliance of the player charts in the book, they are taking extra care to make sure there aren't any typographical errors in that regard (and there are a lot of charts). I will reconnect with the publisher over the next week to see if the proofing is done by then and if the December 15th date is still likely at that point.

In addition, we have been working with our site developer to improve our process for loading the player charts on the GUU site. At this point, we have about 80 more charts we need to add to have all the charts available on GUU (there are nearly 140 in all). I confirmed with our developer this morning that we should have about half of the remaining charts (about 40) online by the end of November and the other remaining half (the other 40) by December 15th to coincide with the potential release date.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any other questions. I hope everyone can see by the book excerpt Mike Specht used in his post about factory records (linked below) that this book is going to be an indispensable resource for game used bat collectors:

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_f...ead.php?t=5363

Sincerely,
Chris Cavalier

[Vintagedeputy]

Chris,

I'd like to put this book on my Christmas wish list. Do you have any ordering info for me to pass onto my family?

Jim

[ChrisCavalier]

Chris,

I'd like to put this book on my Christmas wish list. Do you have any ordering info for me to pass onto my family?

Jim

Hello Jim,

In the coming weeks, we will be adding the book as a stand alone item offered through the site. In will also be offered in conjunction with a GUU membership. Thus, I would say you can tell whoever they can order the book through GUU (we are the exclusive online distributor) in the coming weeks.

Please feel free to let me know if that answers your question. In addition, please note that GUU does not have control over the actual release date but we will be shipping the books as soon as they are released.

Sincerely,
Chris

[Vintagedeputy]

will this new book be a better version of Bats or is that book still a valuable resource?

[MSpecht]

Hi Jim--

In terms of Hillerich & Bradsby / Louisville Slugger historical information, labeling information, and the COMPLETE H & B shipping records for every Major League Hall of Fame player, the new book will eclipse any book on the market. Virtually any information about H & B / Louisville Slugger that is of significance to the game-used bat collector is included in this book, with additional information such as an uopdated glossary and definitions of terms. This book will set the standard for the hobby.

For the first (and only) time, collectors will have complete information at their disposal to make informed decisions about H & B bats that they are considering adding to their collection. For Hall of Fame players, collectors will now be in possession of every shipping record in existence for each player. This book will enable a collector to double check previous authentications of bats currently in their collections to determine the accuracy of those authentications. The impact of that alone will be significant and have far-reaching effects throughout the hobby and for many individual collectors See the recent threads on the Tris Speaker bat and the Mickey Mantle bat to better understand the implications of the dissemination of this information.

Books previously and currently on the market, in my opinion, will still have relevance to bat collectors. The original 1995 book BATS -- HILLERICH & BRADSBY and ADIRONDACK 1950-1994 (Vince Malta, Ron Fox, Bill Riddell, and Mike Specht) was a landmark publication and many of the photographs and text information, including the sections on Adirondack / Rawlings game used bats, remain relevant and invaluable. BATS should certainly be included in any game used bat reference library, as should the 2001 publication MASTRONET GUIDE (Dave Bushing and Dan Knoll) and the 2002 book CRACK OF THE BAT (Bob Hill).

Good Luck in future collecting.

Mike Jackitout7@aol.com

[Vintagedeputy]

Where on GUU will the book be announced when it is available for purchase?

[MSpecht]

Hi Jim--

I am not certain exactly how the book will be promo'ed and sold on this site -- the exclusive on-line distributor-- whether with a banner across the top, an icon similar to the book announcement currently on the home page, or whatever, but I can assure you that you won't miss it. Remember also, that the premium membership to Game Used Universe, which costs only slightly more than the book itself, ensures members immediate receipt of the book upon publication.

Consider for a moment that the publication of this book will be arguably the most significant moment in the history of the bat collecting hobby... right up there with the access to H & B factory records which was gained in the late 1990's (see History of Game Used Bat Collecting blog in the Expert's Corner). My personal opinion is that although this book could not have been published without access to the factory records afforded by H & B , the access by every collector to these records is monumental -- now the records will clearly speak for themselves, and the collector can interpret those records for himself. No longer will there be total dependence on the sometimes subjective interpretation of those records by the half-dozen or so people currently with access to them.

Good Luck.

Mike Jackitout7@aol.com

[Vintagedeputy]

and it will give you guys a break from having to answer a thousand questions!

I'm sending my wife a link to this site so that she can order mine for Christmas!

[BoneRubbedBat]

Are we still on target for a 12/15 release?

[ChrisCavalier]

Are we still on target for a 12/15 release?

Hello Marcus,

Please don't shoot the messenger but I have spoken with both Vince Malta and the book publisher and it looks like the book is now scheduled for release sometime in late January. The reason is that the publisher is being extra careful in the proofing process since they will not be able to make any changes (especially in the bat player chart section) once the book is published.

For more information about the book, below is a link to a story that was written for the Sports Collector's Daily site. Notably, I believe the first two paragraphs speak to the timing of the release:

http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com...ost-ready.html

When I spoke with Vince he was very apologetic that the book was not able to be released before the holidays. As such...

Vince has offered to put together an additional 10 charts of notable players not in the Hall-of-Famers that we can post on the GUU site for its members. Therefore, if our members can post suggestions of who they would like to see (I'm guessing guys like Pete Rose, Gil Hodges, etc.) we will select 10 players for which Vince has the records. If you can please list some of the players you would like to see, we will provide a list to Vince for him to create the charts.

In addition, in case you haven't seen it already, we have posted all of the player charts in the 'Game Used Library' section of the GUU site. Please note that the charts are best viewed using the latest version of Adobe Acrobat reader which can be downloaded FREE from the Adobe site located at:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions about the charts. Here is a list of all 145 player charts that are now available on the Game Used Universe site:

Aaron, Henry
Alston, Walter
Anderson, Sparky
Aparicio, Luis
Appling, Luke
Ashburn, Richie
Averill, Earl
Bancroft, Dave
Banks, Ernie
Bench, Johnny
Berra, Yogi
Boggs, Wade
Bottomley, Jim
Boudreau, Lou
Brett, George
Brock, Lou
Bunning, Jim
Campanella, Roy
Carew, Rod
Carey, Max
Carlton, Steve
Carter, Gary
Cepeda, Orlando
Clemente, Roberto
Cobb, Ty
Cochrane, Mickey
Collins, Eddie
Combs, Earle
Cronin, Joe
Cuyler, Kiki
Dean, Dizzy
Dickey, Bill
DiMaggio, Joe
Doby, Larry
Doerr, Bobby
Drysdale, Don
Durocher, Leo
Eckersley, Dennis
Feller, Bob
Ferrell, Rick
Fingers, Rollie
Fisk, Carlton
Ford, Whitey
Fox, Nellie
Foxx, Jimmie
Frisch, Frankie
Gehrig, Lou
Gehringer, Charlie
Gibson, Bob
Gomez, Lefty
Goslin, Goose
Greenberg, Hank
Grimes, Burleigh
Grove, Lefty
Gwynn, Tony
Hafey, Chick
Hartnett, Gabby
Heilmann, Harry
Heinie, Manush
Herman, Billy
Hornsby, Rogers
Hoyt, Waite
Hunter, Catfish
Irvin, Monte
Jackson, Reggie
Jackson, Travis
Jenkins, Fergie
Kaline, Al
Kell, George
Kelly, George
Killebrew, Harmon
Kiner, Ralph
Klein, Chuck
Koufax, Sandy
Lasorda, Tommy
Lazzeri, Tony
Lemon, Bob
Lindstrom, Freddy
Lombardi, Ernie
Lopez, Al
Lyons, Ted
Mantle, Mickey
Maranville, Rabbit
Marichal, Juan
Mathews, Eddie
Mays, Willie
Mazeroski, Bill
McCovey, Willie
Medwick, Joe
Mize, Johnny
Molitor, Paul
Morgan, Joe
Murray, Eddie
Musial, Stan
Newhouser, Hal
Niekro, Phil
Ott, Mel
Paige, Satchel
Palmer, Jim
Perez, Tony
Perry, Gaylord
Puckett, Kirby
Reese, Pee Wee
Rice, Sam
Ripken Jr., Cal
Rizzuto, Phil
Roberts, Robin
Robinson, Brooks
Robinson, Frank
Robinson, Jackie
Roush, Edd
Ruffing, Red
Ruth, George “Babe”
Ryan, Nolan
Sandberg, Ryne
Schmidt, Mike
Schoendienst, Red
Seaver, Tom
Sewell, Joe
Simmons, Al
Sisler, George
Slaughter, Enos
Smith, Ozzie
Snider, Duke
Spahn, Warren
Speaker, Tris
Stargell, Willie
Stengel, Casey
Sutter, Bruce
Sutton, Don
Terry, Bill
Traynor, Pie
Vance, Dazzy
Vaughan, Arky
Waner, Lloyd
Waner, Paul
Wheat, Zack
Wilhelm, Hoyt
Williams, Billy
Williams, Ted
Wilson, Hack
Winfield, Dave
Wynn, Early
Yastrzemski, Carl
Yount, Robin

As always, I am happy to answer any other questions you may have.

Sincerely,
Christopher Cavalier
CEO - Game Used Universe