Howard, here are some random thoughts regarding this particular bat...
  • I've seen just a couple Pujols bats with dots on the knob; I have no idea what they mean.
  • Albert used to write "Game" on his favorite bats early in his career. I've not seen a bat with this notation since 2003. Not saying he didn't do it after 2003, but I personally haven't seen an example.
  • Crossing out the "BP" but not "Game" suggests this was once a BP bat that was promoted to a game bat. I'd think it would be the other way around -- a gamer might get demoted to a BP bat. Seems odd.
  • Though I'd like to review video of every at bat to make sure, I recall that Albert didn't use anything but a natural LS M9 throughout the 2004 post season. The photo in the description kind of looks like an X-Bat, but I'm pretty sure it's an M9. In all other Getty photos from the series, Albert clearly is using an M9.
  • Albert didn't use X-Bats much at all in 2004.
  • The general public could buy X-Bats identical to professional models prior to 2006. I'd like to see a photo of the bat's handle to see if there's a flag -- or at least evidence that a flag was once there.
  • Knowing how protective Albert is of his game-used equipment, it seems far-fetched that he'd simply give away a WS game bat, especially after a bitter four-game sweep.