Sooo... Ever purchase a game used corked bat.

[EricTheRed44]

Hello,

I recently purchased a game used bat from an auction house. I have zero experience with corked bats or tampered bats, but the top of the bat looks somewhat odd and theres a circle at the top of the bat with the paint somewhat chipping off all the way around the circle. It is not only chipping, it looks... doctored. I've seen my fair share of bats... but I've never seen one like this. It may not be corked, but it looks fairly... off.

I may post photos of the top of the bat here soon (just the top).
Was wondering if anyone had purchased a corked bat , and if so, I was wondering how it looked at the top.

Anyway, probably nothing... buy if I do a little research and it still makes me wonder, I may look into getting it x-rayed.

[EricTheRed44]

And just so you dont draw any wrong conclusions... it is not an Eric Davis bat.

[Sportskansascity]

Email me a pic and I'll take a look if you'd like. I've got a gu bat that has been corked as well.

1983orioles@gmail.com

[HawaiiSportsNut]

Can't wait to see the pics.

[EricTheRed44]

Here are a few pics. The odd thing is circle where you see the holes or where its chipped, the entire circle you see in pic seems slight raised where it looks like someone painted over it with black paint. Inside the circle it is back down to the normal surface.

Thoughts? Could be nothing but when i got the bat its the first thing I noticed.

[EricTheRed44]

sooo... typical and not anything? Or does it look a little iffy to anyone?

[HawaiiSportsNut]

Can you see if the wood grain in the center of the bat matches up to the grains on the outer side of the bat end. If it does in may not be anything, however if it doesn't, it could be suspect.

[EricTheRed44]

It looks like it matches up fairly well, but where the circle is there is no pattern?
It also looks like there are brush strokes on the inner part of the circle that slightly differ from the rest of the barrel?

It just looks suspect to me? Probably nothing I guess, but its the only bat I've handled that looked like this.

[Birdbats]

I don't think there's anything unusual going on. When bats are dipped in polyurethane and hung to dry, it's common for drops to form/harden at the bottom of the barrel. Later, when those bats are standing upright, the finish can stick to the floor. Can't tell you how many bats I've had with carpet fuzz stuck to them because someone stood them in a corner. To me, it looks like this bat lost some of its finish in a ring pattern (it has an excessive amount of dried polyurethane... probably was pretty sticky at one time).

[EricTheRed44]

Thanks for the responses guys.

I dont have any that look similar in my collection, but I only have 30 or so bats so thought I'd ask. I'd rather not have a corked bat from a player from the Reds, even though I know of at least a few players who did that played with the Reds.

Thanks again

Joe