Willie Harris's "cheapo" 6-for-6 bat

[skipcareyisfat]

Funny article in today's AJC about the bat Willie used on Saturday night:

ajc.com > Sports > Braves
Harris uses "el cheapo" bat

By CARROLL ROGERS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/23/07
That Willie Harris went 6-for-6 Saturday night was a feat in itself, but get a load of the bat he used to get the first three hits.

It was a commemorative bat belonging to assistant Braves clubhouse manager Ben Acree, something Braves employees got to commemorate the 14 straight Division titles.

It was a bat pitcher Tim Hudson kidded he would use one day, and on Saturday evening, talked Harris into using.

"It's like this el cheapo, giveaway bat," Hudson said. "Probably the worse wood you could ever possibly imagine. I was like 'Willie, man, why don't you use this bat?' cause he uses a short bat anyway. It's only a 32-inch bat, 31-1/2. Darn if he didn't get three hits. We retired it. Bat's hitting 1.000."

Harris was in a month-long slump, hitting .190 with no extra base hits or RBIs, and apparently willing to try whatever it took.

"The bat was terrible," Harris said. "It didn't feel good at all in my hand, but I had good results with it for three at-bats. First at-bat, I was like 'OK, got a base hit, scored a run.' Then I'm thinking in between innings, in the outfield, 'Should I use this bat again?' Used it again, got another hit, another RBI, I was like 'Dang, I'm feeling pretty good.' Try it again, got another hit, then I was like 'I got to put it down. It's due for an 0-fer somewhere.'"

Harris apparently didn't realize it was a commemorative bat.

"I don't know what it was," he said. "I just swung it."

Believe it or not, playing with the lighter bat might have helped his approach.

"The bat that I used is a little smaller, that way you don't get out front," Harris said. "You have to wait for the ball to get back there to you. I think I'm at least back to the point of letting the ball get back there to me, instead of going out there and chasing it, just see it a little bit longer."

Acree has plans to get Harris to sign the bat, and put it with the ball they retrieved from his first hit with it, and put it in a shadow box on his wall. For the short-term, though, Harris had a nice bottle of champagne waiting in his locker from the clubhouse staff.

That had some issues too.

"I'm allergic to champagne," Harris said. "When I was in Chicago and we won the (2005 World) Series, I couldn't even celebrate because I was allergic to champagne. But I'm going to keep that bottle. I might take a sip, but I might burst out in bumps or something."

[chicagoglen]

Love these stories, thanks for sharing! It is amazing what kind of equipment actually makes it into the field of play.

[allstarsplus]

That is a great story! See Yogi was right---it is 90% mental!

[ironmanfan]

That is a great story! See Yogi was right---it is 90% mental!

Actually, I think Yogi's quote was that "50% of the game is 90% mental.."



I agree, neat story