Bat Question

[AWA85]

How hard is it to get a bat with a somewhat common players name on it, such as Edwin Encarnacion of the Reds? Are these all over the market, or does have a common players name on the bat make it a pretty sure thing? Just curious, about some of these items?

[godwulf]

I don't know about other sources, but I see that there's one on eBay at the moment.

http://cgi.ebay.com/EDWIN-ENCARNACION-Reds-Game-Used-Bat_W0QQitemZ190190685290QQihZ009QQcategoryZ60596Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[bigtruck260]

A good question for someone who is just starting out.

I have plenty of commons. Doubtful that many are forged/faked and I have pruchased commons for under $20. Not bad for players that I enjoyed watching. Once you hit the $100 threshold, there is that chance that someone is doctoring things ("using" an issued bat, etc).

You can have 100 commons for the price of some superstar bats.

Dave

[AWA85]

I saw that and really wanted it thats why I asked. Thanks for your help, but you can't just get bats with common players names engraved on it can you is what i am asking? Also that ebay one was from spring training, dose that still have game used value or does it matter?

Thanks

[godwulf]

I saw that and really wanted it thats why I asked. Thanks for your help, but you can't just get bats with common players names engraved on it can you is what i am asking? Also that ebay one was from spring training, dose that still have game used value or does it matter?

Do you mean, could you or I order a bat with some "common" player's name on it? There's a Louisville Slugger employee here on the board who could no doubt give you an authoritative answer, but I've always heard, No - not from one of the major bat companies, anyway. I thought you were asking about where to find one.

As bigtruck said, I don't think you have to be overly concerned that a non-superstar's bat has been forged or faked. Not when the beginning bid price (and often the winning bid price) is less than what it would cost to buy a new, unmarked bat - not to mention the time and energy involved in making it look like some utility player or minor star's gamer.

As for a bat being from ST, I guess the final arbiter (or "decider", as GWB would say;) ) of the value of a bat that you know came from ST is you, yourself. I have many bats in my collection that I know for a fact came from ST ('cause in several case, the player they belonged to wasn't with the team when ST ended), and if anything, I value them because of their relative rarity.

I recently bought a bat that was listed as having been used by "David Hulse, Arizona Diamondbacks". My initial reaction was, "Who?" Researched it, and it turns out that Hulse was signed in February of '98, and was gone by the end of March. Got to be a rare bat, though no doubt it will never be valuable (unless Hulse gets famous for something other than Baseball). I also have a Hector Carrasco DBacks bat - he never made the team, either; I heard that he was the 26th man coming out of ST in '98. It's sort of an oddball sub-collection, I guess you might say. It's all what you enjoy.

[AWA85]

Thank you very much for your help. That last post cleared up a lot for me, just wasn't sure if you could walk into a sports store and find many bats with players names on it. The guys story matched up also, so I feel safe purchasing from the BAY.

Thank you for your help.

[MSpecht]

The interesting part of your question about "common players" bats turns out to be that, in many cases, they turn out to not be very common after all. Anyone who has ever collected a "team set" and tried to get a game used bat of every position player (forget the pitchers) who had even one at bat for a specific team (1960 Pirates, 1970 A's, etc) ultimately gets stuck on the guy who was up for a month or two and got 20 ABs that year.

In the case of the 1984 Padres (their first NL Championship), The Gwynn, Garvey, Nettles, Mcreynolds bats and all are out there, but try to find a nice GU Doug Gwosdz or Eddie Miller. The flip side of this equation is that when you do find it, the price is probably very right, and the seller generally has no idea why you are looking for it and how much you would really be willing to pay for it.

A final piece of advice -- be sure to become very familar with the labeling differences of professional model bats and store bats, and, in particular, replica (or show) bats. Here is a link to a good example of a replica/show bat that was manufactured with many characteristics of bats that were used during the player's career, but can be distinguished from a pro bat by the line under the 125. http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=13664

Good Luck in future collecting.

Mike jackitout7@aol.com