Josh Hamilton Bat

[ironmanfan]

Re: Josh Hamilton Bat

Some of the younger guys may not realize that Joe Macko (long time equipment manager of the Rangers) had a son named Steve that played for a couple years with the Cubs who passed away tragically in his late 20's....

[cjclong]

Re: Josh Hamilton Bat

I was sort of joking with "Wonder Boy", but since H&B is approved I can't see them not letting mlb not letting him use the bat. I don't think there are any regs about using the bat of a player who has retired whether it was one year ago or forty. And we know players use other players bat all the time.

[5kRunner]

Re: Josh Hamilton Bat

I think Hamilton is my favorite player now. I love rooting for this guy. I agree with Dave, stories like this just add to his great story and personality.

cjclong,
There is a MLB "approved manufacturers" list or something. Brian would know more. Of course, H&B is on it already. But, if someone made a "Wonderboy", I don't think they would be allowed to use it in a game whether it met league specs or not.

[cjclong]

Re: Josh Hamilton Bat

I would think as long as a bat matches major league size specifications, as this one obviously did, there would be no trouble using it. ("Wonder Boy" in The Natural). I would think you could use a Ruth, Gehrig or DiMaggio bat as long as they were not out side the size limits. I know they would not let David Wells wear babe Ruth's cap, but that was because the style of cap had changed and it did not conform to the uniform currently worn.

[BMH]

Re: Josh Hamilton Bat

Yeah, Charlotte said we only made him one souvie bat. It was signed by the whole team back in 97. So, he had to be swinging one of his old gamers.

On a side note, one of my workers is a huge Hamilton fan. He made up some of his bats and sent them to him to sign. He liked them better than the gamers we sent him so he sent two of the gamers back and kept the souvies to use.

[bigtruck260]

Re: Josh Hamilton Bat

Joe Macko would make sense. Here is my guess...

Macko has been honored for his 60 years of service in baseball...and he is a legendary clubbie for Texas. Macko is showing the kid some of his memorabilia and Hamilton says - "Hey Mack - this bat feels great, I think I'll use it in the game tonight..."

Makes sense - and the umps are probably more concerned with the new maple rules, so a blonde ash bat doesn't raise flags (maybe the umps were asked about it before the game?).

Just a thought. If that's the case, Hamilton just won me over again. His story is so good - that something like this is just sprinkles on my cupcake.

[cjclong]

Re: Josh Hamilton Bat

Guess I can't read typing either. Joe Macko?

[cjclong]

Re: Josh Hamilton Bat

I guess my eyes are not good enough to read the signature on the barrel, is it Joe Macho?

[shoremen44]

Re: Josh Hamilton Bat

and the mystery continues

[BMH]

Re: Josh Hamilton Bat

Ok, that might be wrong too...

We've made Joe one Autograph bat in 1996-1997. The rest were gamers from when he played. So, most likely it was a gamer.

[BMH]

Re: Josh Hamilton Bat

They are autograph bats for Joe Macko

[BMH]

Re: Josh Hamilton Bat

I can honestly say...I have no idea.

[5kRunner]

Re: Josh Hamilton Bat

My post was supposed to say:

"Any chance Josh got his hands on an unused bat from the 70's and thought he'd try it?"

Stupid no edit function.

[shoremen44]

Re: Josh Hamilton Bat

I cant wait to hear the results of this one... if you watch his at bats the bat totally has the vintage look to it... the pictures I captured dont do it justice

[Nnunnari]

Re: Josh Hamilton Bat

It looks like he picked up an old bat (maybe one of the coach's bats from their playing days) and loved the feel of it and went ahead and used it. I wonder if this is allowed by MLB?
I noticed right away that his bat appeared to have a vintage look to it.

Nick