Hi There GUU,
I would like your opinion on whether I got a good deal on this Jorge Cantu bat. I didn't pay more than a $100 for the bat.
The bat has tons of use with major grain seperation and pine tar and the lower half of the bat has been shaved to the knob . Tons of ball mark/scuffs. I took a chance and bought it not knowing what number it had written on it or what year it was from . The seller had it listed as "this past year". But seeing that it was a Rawling's and still had the team name on it instead of -PRO- , I knew otherwise. Plus it had Tampa Bay Rays instead of Devil Rays under the Players name , I have seen these date stamped no earlier than 2001.
I was told by a collector/dealer that Rawlings was thinking the Devil Rays were going to change their name. Anway #13 is on the bat , barely able to see it on the handle end ,it's almost worn off . Cantu was #3 at Durham . Since turning pro in 2004 was #59 ,since 2005 has been #3 . After searching online and even calling The St.Pete Times Sports desk with no luck . I forgot all about my media guides and I found in the Devil Rays 2002 Media Guide (what couldn't be found on-line) a picture of Cantu listed with the number 13 . The bat has the date stamped "02" and a low order number of "058" and model number " 155B". After seeing the info in the media guide , I am really happy and now I like the bat a lot. Now I remember why I bought a complete set of Devil Rays Media Guides . They are an excellent tool for finding uniform numbers ,especially spring training . I also like www.baseballalmanac.com . will post pics in a minute .