ok fess up! Who STOLE the Jeff Kent rookie bat?

[cjw]

Re: ok fess up! Who STOLE the Jeff Kent rookie bat?

'In regards to the fact that the numbers looked "very fresh" in appearance, I would say that bats marked as prominently as Kent's usually are, would still hold their quality 17 years later as long as they were not exposed to the elements or other things that might wear on the bat. I had some bats from the early 80's and 26 years later the numbers were still quite bold in appearance like the #11 on the end of the Cooper bat.'

Not a great pic..but this is a 32 year old, 1977 Doug Ault gamer that I have had for 15 years. The marker still looks as sharp as ever.

[Dewey2007]

Re: ok fess up! Who STOLE the Jeff Kent rookie bat?

Maybe thats what I thought was fishy, that all of the numbers looked very fresh.

Im not saying that bats are bad, Im not saying they are good either. Just throwing it out there why I didnt take a stab on any of them, especially the Raines, Kent, and Ventura bats where I was going to throw a nice piece of dough at.

In searching around it seems that Kent almost always marks the end of his bats with his uniform number. Alot of the examples I have seen are usually large numbers in black ink. The 3 LVS Kents I have all have this characteristic. I would say that game used bats that don't have his uniform # written on the end are not the norm. I found two cards from his time with the Mets sometime after his trade from the Jays. You can tell because he's wearing #39. Anyhow, if you look his bats are marked quite noticeably with his uniform# on the end of the knob. Now would he do this with the Mets and not with Jays? Given the fact that Kent was shown to use Cooper bats early in his career and mark his bats in this manner I would say that there is a good chance the bat I have is from his brief time with the Jays.

In regards to the fact that the numbers looked "very fresh" in appearance, I would say that bats marked as prominently as Kent's usually are, would still hold their quality 17 years later as long as they were not exposed to the elements or other things that might wear on the bat. I had some bats from the early 80's and 26 years later the numbers were still quite bold in appearance like the #11 on the end of the Cooper bat. In any case, I'll keep up the research on the bat and will post better pics once I receive it.

[Yankwood]

Re: ok fess up! Who STOLE the Jeff Kent rookie bat?

Alot of the Blue Jays and Expos from back then used Coopers. Raines, Cecil F., Kent, Wallach, etc. They were great bats and often very inexpensive for collectors. When the Yankees went up to Toronto, very often you would see them using Coopers when they got back to the states. Mattingly and Winfield Coopers were very prevalent for a while.

[33bird]

Re: ok fess up! Who STOLE the Jeff Kent rookie bat?

Yea, I'm with ya. Just, all around, some things didn't seem to fit. Like they say: If it looks like a rat....
Greg

[ndevlin]

Re: ok fess up! Who STOLE the Jeff Kent rookie bat?

Maybe thats what I thought was fishy, that all of the numbers looked very fresh.

Another thing I dont like, and why I didnt go after the Kent, Raines, and Ventura, is how all are rookie bats and the Raines and Ventura have the wrong jersey numbers. The Raines Block lettered bat was a 1977-79 date with a #30 on the end. Raines only played 9 games in '79 the last year this bat was produced, and he wore #32 that yr anyways. A carryover for next yr? Sure, he wore #30, but again, he played in 15 games. I also dont like block lettered bats because Im not 100% dead set that this was even a TIM Raines bat. How about Levi Raines or Ned Raines? They both played in 1977-79 era.

The Ventura, an 86-89 model with a #23 on the knob. Ventura wore #21 in 1989 playing in 16 games. Could it have been a carryover bat? I guess, he did play for Birmingham in 1989 as well where he had 67 RBI's. You would think a carryover is unlikely.

Im not saying that bats are bad, Im not saying they are good either. Just throwing it out there why I didnt take a stab on any of them, especially the Raines, Kent, and Ventura bats where I was going to throw a nice piece of dough at.

[Vintagedeputy]

Re: ok fess up! Who STOLE the Jeff Kent rookie bat?

[Nnunnari]

Re: ok fess up! Who STOLE the Jeff Kent rookie bat?

Thanks for sharing that Rudy, I did not know those Coopers were sold to the public. I still think the Coopers look great.
I believe of the Hall of Famers from that era, Molitor most regularly used Coopers. Winfield, Rickey, Murray, Sheffield, Alomar and Palmeiro also frequently used them.

Nick

[Dewey2007]

Re: ok fess up! Who STOLE the Jeff Kent rookie bat?

I was a little leary about that bat. Kent used Coopers on the Mets too. I had a cooper bat of Kent a few years ago and there was no number of his written on the knob. In pen was written KENT real lite. It would be easy to pick up a Kent Cooper and write #11 on it and say it was a rookie bat. That was the only time in his career he wore #11. The 11 looked like it could have been written yesterday instead of 20 years ago. I'm not saying that was what happened. Who knows. Also, it said bats were cracked and repaired but you couldn't see in the picture how good the repair was. I bid on it but I'm kindof glad I didn't win it. A few too many questions about it. But, Dewey, maybe you got a steal too. Let us know when you get it.
greg
biggamebird@yahoo.com

Yeah, I had similar questions but thought it was worth taking a chance on. I'll let everyone know how it looks when I receive it.

[kingjammy24]

Re: ok fess up! Who STOLE the Jeff Kent rookie bat?

andy benish just sold (as of like 1 or 2 days ago) a gorgeous 1994 frank thomas worth gamer for around $640. really nice bat which i imagine is why it went for that price while taube's 2 frank thomas bats have lingered for weeks (months?) at sub-$500 prices.

cooper bats were big in the late 80s/early 90s. practically all of the biggest names tried them out at one point. getty even has a picture of griffey jr. swinging a blonde cooper in '89 or '90. that said, did you guys see this?: http://www.mearsonline.com/news/newsDetail.asp?id=610



at least LVS retail models differed in length and weight from their pro counterparts. those retail coopers apparently had the same length and weight! and nothing like an underlined 125 to indicate retail. crazy.

rudy.

[33bird]

Re: ok fess up! Who STOLE the Jeff Kent rookie bat?

I was a little leary about that bat. Kent used Coopers on the Mets too. I had a cooper bat of Kent a few years ago and there was no number of his written on the knob. In pen was written KENT real lite. It would be easy to pick up a Kent Cooper and write #11 on it and say it was a rookie bat. That was the only time in his career he wore #11. The 11 looked like it could have been written yesterday instead of 20 years ago. I'm not saying that was what happened. Who knows. Also, it said bats were cracked and repaired but you couldn't see in the picture how good the repair was. I bid on it but I'm kindof glad I didn't win it. A few too many questions about it. But, Dewey, maybe you got a steal too. Let us know when you get it.
greg
biggamebird@yahoo.com

[Dewey2007]

Re: ok fess up! Who STOLE the Jeff Kent rookie bat?

I got a pounded Kent bat from 2007 with Steiner COA and MLB hologram for $175. Kent bats are not really expensive by any means. I am suprised the Cooper went for that much.

Like BigTruck260 mentioned I think Kent's bats are undervalued considering he's going to be in the HOF in 5 years. I think a big reason 2007 Kent bats went at such reasonable prices is there were about 20 of them offered over a one month period on eBay. I think the market got flooded with his Dodgers bats. I got a pounded MLB/Steiner Authenticated '07 Kent for $156 shipped.

Anyhow, I'm glad the Cooper bat didn't go for that much considering it's a rookie bat of a future HOFer I'll take it!!

[emann]

Re: ok fess up! Who STOLE the Jeff Kent rookie bat?

I watched the Raines all week but ultimately backed off really cheap on it. I decided I didn't really like the look of it. I've bought too many "game used" bats off ebay that don't show the barrel in photos and when I get them, they're devoid of any use marks. The Raines just looked off to me (in the really poor pictures that were posted), super clean, etc...

I also found it sort of odd that basically EVERY bat that seller listed was "rookie" era. Numbers on the knob, light looking use (from most of the photos- the Kent looked better than the Raines for example).

Not saying they're bad- just saying this is why I for one didn't drive up the bids.

[skyking26]

Re: ok fess up! Who STOLE the Jeff Kent rookie bat?

I don't understand why people don't enjoy Cooper bats, they were very popular in the early '90's.

What about the Frank Thomas bat that sold for $85 and the Raines rookie that sold for $47 or something?
If you don't think the economy's hurting the bat market, you're kidding yourself.

I must be kidding myself. Any 2009 ebay auction I am involved in has went way over. Barbaro Garbey bats for nearly $400? Nelson Simmons for $300? The list goes on. These were guys that played for the Tigers in the 80's that nobody has heard of outside Detroit.

Nope, I think recession is just a figment of the imagination from what I can see...

[Rboitano]

Re: ok fess up! Who STOLE the Jeff Kent rookie bat?

I got a pounded Kent bat from 2007 with Steiner COA and MLB hologram for $175. Kent bats are not really expensive by any means. I am suprised the Cooper went for that much.

[Nnunnari]

Re: ok fess up! Who STOLE the Jeff Kent rookie bat?

I don't understand why people don't enjoy Cooper bats, they were very popular in the early '90's.

What about the Frank Thomas bat that sold for $85 and the Raines rookie that sold for $47 or something?
If you don't think the economy's hurting the bat market, you're kidding yourself.