Photo matched PR4192 Rose bat with surprise!!!!

[33bird]

LMK when you go and I'll meet ya there. Would love to see him explain the cork!

[jays78]

Awesome Find!! Just curious as to when players cork these? Are they ordered that way, or do they have them modified after? You'd think they would want to keep as few people in the loop as possible...

[schubert1970]

Awesome Find!! Just curious as to when players cork these? Are they ordered that way, or do they have them modified after? You'd think they would want to keep as few people in the loop as possible...

In this case Pete's good buddy Tommy Gio claimed to corking the bats. To this day Pete claims to never have used a cork bat and the few that have surfaced, Pete claims were done after the bat left his hands.

Both have zero credibility.

[33bird]

I believe Pete, of course, since he's always been honest in the past!

[Rob L]

Unbelievable Bat! Congrats!!

[schubert1970]

I was contacted by a few media outlets today so we'll see what happens in the next few weeks.

Bill

[joelsabi]

I was contacted by a few media outlets today so we'll see what happens in the next few weeks.

Bill

for some reason, i am not surprised. great bat. i think everyone who owns a Rose bat want to x-ray their bats too. What gave you the idea that it was corked? Does the weight of the bat weigh more than it is supposed to?

[schubert1970]

for some reason, i am not surprised. great bat. i think everyone who owns a Rose bat want to x-ray their bats too. What gave you the idea that it was corked? Does the weight of the bat weigh more than it is supposed to?

Joel,

After I traded for the bat from Steve Wolter (owner of the pat and ball that passed Cobb) last August, I sent pics of my bat to Steve Mears and he thought the top of the bat look suspicious, and he suggested I take it somewhere and get it scanned. I didn't really think the bat was corked so I didn't bother to do anything about it.

After I made the photomatch a few months ago, I thought what the heck let's x-ray this thing and if it's corked, we have a pic of him using the bat and how incredible would that be. Plus, the other corked bats that have surfaced are damaged or the top portion of the bat has all the paint taken off. At least with an x-ray we didn't ruin the bat.

I have no idea what the bat should weigh, and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Bill

[schubert1970]

fyi, I have reviewed that magazine and didn't see a photo credit inside. Chuck

Chuck,

The photo credit is on the inside cover. The pic was taken by Bob Bartosz. He told me he took the picture, but couldn't tell me what ballpark it was taken in.

Bill

[CowboyJohn]

Bill,

Congratulations for taking the effort to confirm what I strongly suspected. You now have yourself the definitive proof, corroborating my find of almost three years ago. Maybe now, guys like John Taube, who has a Pete Rose PR 4192 model will get off their duff's and X-ray theirs.

Now that the cat is out of the hat, I will share pics of mine.

Three interesting notes:

The paint stick/pen or whatever means that was used to apply the "14" on the end of my bat was obviously scuffed/messed up, and reapplied in an effort to cover up the dirty deed. Yours (assuming the picture you posted is the barrel end, not the knob end) is a bit less messy. It appears the number "14" on yours was only applied once. I'm nt sure what significance there is to this, but maybe one day we'll find out.

Secondly, please note that my bat was sent to MEARS for authentication. They totally missed the fact it was corked. They weighed it, made note of the weight, but the lighter result was apparently written off (in their analysis) as loss due to natural evaporation of the wood over time. A reasonable assumption, so I am not criticizing them for the miss.

Lastly, the technique used to prepare these bats appear to have been different. At the very least, mine was drilled with a machine drill bit, easilly identifiable by the stepped-in narrow end of the hole drilled. Bill's bat was drilled with an auger bit, as evidenced by the "V" shaped grove at the end. Bill's appears to be a bit off center as it travels through the bat, and mine appears to be dead-nuts through the center. This could be a minor "operator" error when locking the bat up in a vice, or possible because one was set it in a machine lathe which would insure better accuracy. Who knows, but it is interesting to note. It also proves that corking a bat is not an exact science.

A year or so ago, I mentioned I had a theory on why Pete Rose "sanded" a patch on his Black Mizuno bats. My theory was that he did so to inspect the wood grain on his bats.

Why?

His story, which most here reiterated as their belief to be true, was because he wanted to see the ball marks better on his bat the next time he used it.

Huh?

That made no sense then, and makes less sence now. What BETTER SUFACE would their be to show newly placed ball marks on a bat then BLACK LAQUER? Especially after he would wipe his bats down with rubbing alcohol to remove the old ones. THINK about that for a minute...

If you rub off the alcohol on the bat, removing all the old ball marks, WHY SAND THE PAINT OFF? So you can try to see lighter balls mark on a sanded light ash grained surface instead of on a BLACL LAQUERED SURFACE? That's ridiculous, the black surface would make it MUCH easier to see. Any of you that own a black vehicle will understand what I'm talking about here. Shiney black surfaces show EVERYTHING.

Pete's concocted story was...just that. I still believe to this day, that he sanded a patch of paint off these bats......because they were CORKED. And he wanted to check out the possible damage/errosion to the grain of the bat after some use. After all, being a few hits away from breaking Ty Cobb's record, what could be more disappointing than having a bat shatter on hit number 4102 and have cork fly all over the field?

As maybe a few more of these, NOW, will surface, we may all be able to put the pieces together.

Tommy Gioiosa told Vanity Fair magazine in his famous interview that Pete corked his bats. It appears Tommy was telling the truth.

Some pics of mine...

Notice on the two similar pictures on the knob the starting of the separation of the 3/4" wood plug, circling through the "4"...