Rarest...most photomatched Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie bat!?!

[yankees506]

Re: Rarest...most photomatched Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie bat!?!

The post really took on a tone of hyping his bat........starting to seem like hyping for the purpose of future auction listing? Maybe im wrong but thats the sense i get. Its a great bat but doesnt compare to Aaron Judge items in terms of value imo.

If he wants to sell this bat more power to him. I had a chance at this bat and passed for many reasons. One being i already have a nice griffey rookie. But lets not assume anything. If he wanted validation for his bat why dont we give it to him as collectors. He has what he has. Nothing will change that. Its either a verified griffey photoshoot bat or a gamer. Both have value. But i think he posted it so we could appreciate it. I know i do

[STLHAMMER32]

Re: Rarest...most photomatched Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie bat!?!

I highly doubt griffey would have grabbed a bat that he was not using for a photoshoot. Even if it is his dads bat placing it in his hands during his rookie season/ era is incredible and amazing it has survived the years. I would not care to match it to "game use" its matched period at least imo. Great bat man!

I can't even begin to count the numerous examples of players holding another player's bats ESPECIALLY for photo shoots from this era. I think we could all find dozens upon dozens to post as examples.

Griffey Sr. used blonde coopers and as already posted there is a photo of him actually holding the blonde cooper while griffey holds his typical black bat from the same series of cards.

Here's a griffey card with JR. Holding a singular spiral taped bat that is likely a SR. bat as this was his signature tape job.

With that being said...Because it's a c271 and has a unique criss-cross pattern with his #24 placed on the bat, I'd say there's a good chance it was in fact used by Griffey Jr. even if it was originally issued to Griff Sr.

[DTM5]

Re: Rarest...most photomatched Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie bat!?!

At the expense of being redundant Griffey Sr. Used cooper model (S216) Griffey Jr. Used cooper (C271) that to me alone is telling not to mention the tape and 24 on top of barrel. If Jr. used Sr. bat it would not have had these characteristics let alone it would have been a (S216). This is not Sr.'s bat. Also, Griffey Jr. On rare occasions used a single spiral tape job his rookie year maybe mimicking his old man however I have never seen Sr. Use a 14inch criss-cross tape application on his bats.

[STLHAMMER32]

Re: Rarest...most photomatched Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie bat!?!

At the expense of being redundant Griffey Sr. Used cooper model (S216) Griffey Jr. Used cooper (C271) that to me alone is telling not to mention the tape and 24 on top of barrel. If Jr. used Sr. bat it would not have had these characteristics let alone it would have been a (S216). This is not Sr.'s bat. Also, Griffey Jr. On rare occasions used a single spiral tape job his rookie year maybe mimicking his old man however I have never seen Sr. Use a 14inch criss-cross tape application on his bats.

I noted that it looks good in favor of Griffey Jr using the bat because of what you mentioned. I do have a couple of questions out of curiosity.

1.) Is there no ordering records of the Cooper 271 bats for Griffey Sr.

2.) If you have the cooper ordering records, can you share them?

3.) Is there another photo or bat with a similar tape job of this bat for Griffey Jr ? This is the first I've seen that is this "extreme".

Cool bat, great match. Would probably fetch a nice premium for the right collector.

[DTM5]

Re: Rarest...most photomatched Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie bat!?!

I miss spoke when I said order records, I simply meant my PSA/DNA COA states year 1989 (rookie year). The website gubats.com (Nick's website a guu member) has a picture of someone's, I'm assuming a member of guu as well Griffey Jr. Bat collection that shows the progression of his tape application over the years. You will notice that all bats are black LS, however that's not what to look at. You will notice it starts from earliest bats (top)... down to more recent. Notice he did OCCASIONALLY use the single spiral tape application rookie year as mentioned before. There is a bat displaying the higher tape application as well. My COA notes the higher..." early tape application 14.25 inches."

[DTM5]

Re: Rarest...most photomatched Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie bat!?!

I noted that it looks good in favor of Griffey Jr using the bat because of what you mentioned. I do have a couple of questions out of curiosity.

1.) Is there no ordering records of the Cooper 271 bats for Griffey Sr.

2.) If you have the cooper ordering records, can you share them?

3.) Is there another photo or bat with a similar tape job of this bat for Griffey Jr ? This is the first I've seen that is this "extreme".

Cool bat, great match. Would probably fetch a nice premium for the right collector.

An example of "extreme" tape job is donruss baseballs best 1989 Ken Griffey Jr.
Rookie card which also is a cooper bat!

[DTM5]

Re: Rarest...most photomatched Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie bat!?!

Ironic the timing of this article from MLB.com check it out at the following link:

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2017/08/31/251278624/in-1990-the-griffeys-became-the-first-father-and-son-to-play-in-the-same-major-league-lineup

[vonbrandingo]

Re: Rarest...most photomatched Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie bat!?!

This is like a car wreck, painful but gotta look. I've found that it's a mistake to look for the validation you sought in your title. I'd just show it and the responses would be much different. You have a killer Junior photomatched rookie bat. Might be the rarest or the best or whatever or might not. No way to know. I'd be super happy with it, wrap this up and move on.

Rod

[DTM5]

Re: Rarest...most photomatched Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie bat!?!

I have to apologize for those of you that may have taken the title of this thread the wrong way and I understand why one might. My intentions were good, I really just wanted a title that would get members attention because I was excited for collectors to see it. My excitement may have got the best of me. If you noticed I put (!?!) at the end of the title....not for people to validate that it is the rarest, but to even suggest I don't even know? Like you stated, do we or would we, ever know and does it really matter. Thank you for everyone's feedback!

[3arod13]

Re: Rarest...most photomatched Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie bat!?!

It's a great bat and you should be proud to own it! The end!

[Juan Gris]

Re: Rarest...most photomatched Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie bat!?!

I read this thread an hour after it was first posted and was awestruck with how cool of a bat the OP found. I don't collect Griffey Jr. bats but I sure did with his cards growing up and am very familiar with the Mother's Cookies cards. Now, days later, I see some members telling him he should be happy if he is comfortable with this bat?! I understand where everybody is coming from but what is a PSA 10 GU Bat Grade worth if you can't photo match the bat to being used by the player?

Without photographic evidence, bat grades come with an amount of imagination, no matter how much you paid or think you know about a specific bat or known player characteristics. I would rather own this bat over any PSA 10 Rookie Griffey Bat that didn't include photo matches because I can actually put this one in Junior's hands on an important card, as a rookie and it exhibits use. I don't think anyone overstepped their boundary, just wanted to get that out there.

[Nnunnari]

Re: Rarest...most photomatched Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie bat!?!

Awesome bat and congrats on the find. Ken Griffey Sr. probably ordered bats for junior through his Cooper rep in junior's model and specs of choice. Having a vintage #24 written on the end and being a C271 would make me feel confident this bat was used by Jr and was ordered for junior. Tony Gwynn used to order bats for his son through his LS rep, senior's name on the barrel as LS thought the bats were being made for senior but they were really ordered for junior. Killer bat. Junior did use the large spiral tape pattern as a rookie as well as the criss cross. Now someone needs to track down what time of year these photos were taken so we can try to pinpoint if this bat was actually used during the season, Spring Training or offseason training.

[DTM5]

Re: Rarest...most photomatched Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie bat!?!

Nick, thank you for your input. Researching the mother's cookies 1989 Griffey Jr. cards I found that they were first released as a promotional giveaway at a baseball card show at the Kingdome on August 20, 1989. So deductive reasoning would make one believe these photos were taken early in the season to allow time for production of the cards etc. Also, one would wonder since they were taken in the Kingdome that the chance may be higher for being during the season vs. spring training? I would appreciate all the help I can get tracking down Barry Colla's contact information and/or the date of the photo shoot. Thanks in advance to members!

https://www.psacard.com/cardfacts/baseball-cards/1989-mothers-cookies-ken-griffey-jr/3155

[sctizzle]

Re: Rarest...most photomatched Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie bat!?!

Worth trying this as it came up on a google search:

Barry Colla Photography & Design
STREET
95101 San Jose
CA
(408) 248-5260

[DTM5]

Re: Rarest...most photomatched Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie bat!?!

Worth trying this as it came up on a google search:

Barry Colla Photography & Design
STREET
95101 San Jose
CA
(408) 248-5260

Thank you for the information.... I should have mentioned I tried calling this number before and it is disconnected.