Pujols Bats

[earlywynnfan]

Re: Pujols Bats

This in unbelievable....Yes, i have been a long time Forum member and have helped countless people start, find and continue to have a great time collecting. The photos that I have are the ones of the bat that I received and sold. I did get it from a contact which Ive been doing business with for years !! What now every bat, jersey and sock that I get from this guy is FAKE. Come on, this is insulting and thats why very prominent LONG time dealers dont even post here. Im done.....

By the way, any false statements on my integrity that get posted better be justified. I dont play that and I will follow legal action against anyone that does. Get to the bottom of that

Juan Iglesias
GrndSlm@aol.com

FWIW, I don't see anyone attacking you or saying everything you have is FAKE, I see one bad bat here that could use some explaining.

Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.com

[GrndSlm]

Re: Pujols Bats

I've been an agent for 20 years and a collector for 30. I don't need or want to sell items for a living. I only sell to keep my contacts happy and occassionally keep stuff for myself. Now, if you recall or check my previous post, I have sold Pujols issued maruccis on this forum for $325!! I doubt that I would have done that if what your alledging is true....now, Andrew I know hangs at the stadium because I have also seen him in DC when I visit my clients. This situation I find ridiculous because anyone who has done business with me can only say that it came out clean. I have no reason in the world to doubt a 12 year relationship with a guy who knows that I negotiate several Nationals players contracts....on my end, I don't have any issues with anything.

Juan Iglesias

[shoremen44]

Re: Pujols Bats

Thanks for calling me a Pujols expert... Lol... I know enough to make bad decisions... Lol...

I have leaned on Jeff Scott and Rob Steinmetz for years and they have always been very helpful... Two great guys

As far as the bat pics below, I al not good enough to confirm game use without handling the bat... What I do know is that the pics Andrew Lang provided and Juan provided in my opinion are the same bat.

I have dealt with Andrew in the past and he is beyond reproach... A truly stand up guy.

However, as someone who was falsely accused of wrongdoing recently... We need to give Juan the benefit of the doubt.

Someone altered that bat... But until everyone can respond I recommend we hold judgment

[allstarsplus]

Re: Pujols Bats

I am on a July 4th holiday with the family at the beach. Distressing to say the least to see and read this. I have no horse in this race and not the buyer or seller of this bat. I did have pictures that I passed along.

As you all know, I have received some amazing Pujols bats in the past actually going back to 2001 when I had a relationship with Albert's cousin and had too many problems which led me to relying mainly on player sources and the players I have under contract. I can tell you I got duped in the old days myself on some SAM bats and that is a story for another day and have John Taube to thank for an amazing education on those and Jeff Scott and Rob Steinmetz on a Mizuno I almost got stuck with. Let's face it, Albert Pujols is the greatest player of this generation and commands prices that are in a class by itself which leads to many fakes in the hobby. Thank goodness for GUU and the people here.

[Birdbats]

Re: Pujols Bats

Here's all I know. Juan contacted me and offered me the bat (after another collector, who'd also been approached by Juan, had sent me the photos and asked my opinion). I didn't see any glaring red flags in the photos provided. I tried to photo match the bat's distinct ball marks to Albert's bats used during the Cards/Nats series, but was unable to do so. Still, I hadn't ruled out buying the bat. Then I was contacted by Andrew via e-mail, who sent photos of what undoubtedly appears to be the same bat with no use. At that point, I decided to not pursue the bat. I'm not pointing any fingers because I don't know what happened or who is responsible. But, it seems clear after speaking with Andrew that Albert's bat didn't exhibit any use until after Albert left it behind in Washington.

[kellsox]

Re: Pujols Bats

"Hopefully a good bat repairer can sand off those white ball marks and repaint it back to its luster. A real shame and tragedy."

Not sure how this makes anything right...a game ready bat in which use has mysteriously appeared then fixed to look game ready again??? I would hope this doen't end up being the case.


Unless I'm missing something, no one has accused grndslam of wrongdoing. I think what people are trying to determine is where the use came from in between the time Andrew saw it as game ready/ issued and it was sold as game used.

Its incidents like this that seem to be popping up more frequently that take away a lot of the joy in this hobby. A reason I personally have slowed considerably in my own collecting.

[georgia1011@yahoo.com]

Re: Pujols Bats

Wow, GUU is amazing! Are you kidding me? I have hardly any game use skills (maybe 1 of the 5 tools) You guys are big leaguers and I am getting so much knowledge reading posts on this sight. I love it

[MarkakisMania]

Re: Pujols Bats

It seems clear at this point that the bats are the same from both photos. It would further appear that Andrew Lang is telling the truth here what purpose he would have to make any of this up is beyond me.

Juan needs to explain two things.

1. Where exactly he got this bat from. Who handed the bat to him for sale?

2. What was the date that Juan obtained the bat?

The answers to both questions might go a long way in solving this problem.

Someone clearly is either covering things up or lying or both. Maybe Juan is correct but the question is did he instruct his "source" to obtain him a game used Pujols and maybe his "source" got him a gamer one way or the other. Clearly there is plenty of incentive for even guys in a clubhouse to do this when we are talking about the difference of several thousand dollars between a game issued and game used bat of a player like Pujols. Would that person or any person in that position be putting themselves in serious jeapordy doing something like that? Sure, but I would assume that they are already putting themselves in jeapordy. Even if this was obtained directly from the clubhouse manager, what authority does that person have to remove game used bats or jersey's from the visiting team clubhouse?

We all know that this business works that way but it seems like a pretty sweet deal for Juan and anybody else in that type of position. He apparently has a source in the visting team clubhouse that removes gamers out the back door and then get sold for a nice profit. Perhaps that makes sense with his own clients game used stuff, but does it make sense with random other players?

These questions need to be answered. Between the time Andrew Lang photographed this bat and the time it was obtained by Juan somebody added use to it and it is pretty clear that somebody was not Pujols.


Jeb

[rj_lucas]

Re: Pujols Bats

The earlier post by 5toolplayer featured an excellent photo of the seam impressions you would expect to find on a Pujols gamer. Here's another.

Anyone looking for an Albert Pujols game used bat would do well to study the photos of these usage characteristics and commit them to memory...

Rick

[BostonSportsFan]

Re: Pujols Bats

Juan, the silence is deafening. Anything you care to state here? There have been some excellent questions posed that deserve what should be very easy and quick answers. Those answers would eliminate the need for you to throw out any further unwarranted threats of a lawsuit against forum members who simply want to know what's going on here. If you have done nothing wrong and have simply offered this bat as you received it, then please share that with us. The questions posed are very reasonable from whom was the bat received, and on what date was it received? Please address some very warranted concerns regarding something painfully wrong with this Pujols bat.

If you have done nothing wrong as you claim then simply answer those two questions and that will at least clear up several lingering issues about this bat.

I am glad I did not lay out big money for this bat whatever the story behind it ends up being.

Joe

[lakeerie92]

Re: Pujols Bats

I don't think this issue is on Juan and probably the reason he hasn't responded. He clearly has a clubhouse source by the items he lists for sale. I have no doubt he gets quality items from his clubhouse source. If I had a source like that not only would I not out him to a bunch of rabid forum members, I wouldn't share his information either because it would hurt his access to that person.

It appears as if that person has done wrong and I am sure Juan is just as upset about this as everyone else and now needs to be more careful with his clubhouse source.

Based on what I have seen from Juan he appears to be a stand up guy that ended up believing the bat was game used.

[BostonSportsFan]

Re: Pujols Bats

I don't think this issue is on Juan and probably the reason he hasn't responded. He clearly has a clubhouse source by the items he lists for sale. I have no doubt he gets quality items from his clubhouse source. If I had a source like that not only would I not out him to a bunch of rabid forum members, I wouldn't share his information either because it would hurt his access to that person.

It appears as if that person has done wrong and I am sure Juan is just as upset about this as everyone else and now needs to be more careful with his clubhouse source.

Based on what I have seen from Juan he appears to be a stand up guy that ended up believing the bat was game used.

If that is indeed the case, how could you possibly trust this person ever again??? How in fact do you know that this person has not done this in the past??? Juan indicated that he has had a long term relationship with this individual for a number of years, if the trail leads back to this guy then so be it, but at this point, I certainly would not be attempting to cover for a guy that just put me in this type of situation by doctoring up bats.

Again, I don't know Juan and have never done any business with him. Perhaps his source burned him here, but the last thing I would be worrying about is protecting that source to ensure future business especially in light of the seriousness of this situation and what appears to be a blatant case of someone doctoring a bat with use.

If anything, had I purchased anything at any point from this seller I would be going to the display case and reevauating anything I purchased from him in the past. Perhaps he has no idea that this happened in this case but we simply don't know if and when it may have happened in the past. I would say it certainly however calls into question anything that came from this said source in the past to say the least.

Joe

[jetersbatboy]

Re: Pujols Bats

Rule#16

In instances where a forum member is identifying an item in the hobby they believe to have issues, the poster should clearly state their findings in the form of an opinion and provide adequate rationale for why they believe there is an issue. When possible, we recommend that the poster questioning an item attempt to contact the seller of the item and allow at least 24 hours for the seller to reply before posting. This will prevent postings that may be generated based on misunderstandings of an item. In addition, while this forum is designed to help educate collectors, we will not allow comments that accuse entities in the hobby of participating in any form of criminal wrong-doing. Any posts suggesting criminal wrong-doing should be brought to the attention of the moderators immediately.

I think Juan should give the benefit of the doubt, as he has bin a upstanding member on this board for sometime. I can not see someone of his standing in the hobby and MLB agency, risk his reputation on what would be a minimal profit, for a career choice of what most of use dream.

I also think this thread should be locked, as forum rule #16 was broken. there does not seem to have bin any contact between Juan and Joe regarding the issue before this thread was derailed from it original intention. If there was contact on this issue please disregard my post.

[MarkakisMania]

Re: Pujols Bats


Maybe Juan can explain this as I am a little confused here, If I am to understand correctly, Juan is a CONTRACT AGENT with 3 current Nationals under contract. Why does a contract agent sell other players items that they don't represent? Isn't that against some code of ethics? It would be like Scott Boras doing the same thing. Can you imagine Scott Boras or Greg Genske or Casey Close personally selling an Albert Pujols bat? Juan, you claim to have 3 clients on the Washington Nationals including Livan Hernandez, do you really need to be hawking other players stuff for extra money?


While I am sure this might happen elsewhere, I simply cannot imagine contract agents actively selling game used memorabilia of players they do not represent under contract.

You make yourself out to be some sort of saint but are you just simply another guy out there looking for a quick buck because of the position of access you have to players inside the clubhouse? Does this stuff you obtain ever come directly from the players you represent? Again, on some level it seems like a conflict of interest.

Hopefully we hear back from Juan and can clear up this mess shortly.

Jeb

[kln32225@hotmail.com]

Re: Pujols Bats

Getting back to the original observation made in this thread, perhaps the last 2 1/2 pages of this thread is a reason why someone would pay $3K+ for an authentic game used Pujols bat.