Vince Malta Book Update

[ChrisCavalier]

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to take a quick moment to update you on the status of Vince Malta's book. I spoke with the publisher yesterday and they, along with Vince, are in the final stages of the proofing process. Once the proofing is completed, the only thing that remains is the final printing.

As of right now, the target delivery date is December 15th and they are doing everything they can to try to get the book out before the holidays. However, given the likely reliance of the player charts in the book, they are taking extra care to make sure there aren't any typographical errors in that regard (and there are a lot of charts). I will reconnect with the publisher over the next week to see if the proofing is done by then and if the December 15th date is still likely at that point.

In addition, we have been working with our site developer to improve our process for loading the player charts on the GUU site. At this point, we have about 80 more charts we need to add to have all the charts available on GUU (there are nearly 140 in all). I confirmed with our developer this morning that we should have about half of the remaining charts (about 40) online by the end of November and the other remaining half (the other 40) by December 15th to coincide with the potential release date.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any other questions. I hope everyone can see by the book excerpt Mike Specht used in his post about factory records (linked below) that this book is going to be an indispensable resource for game used bat collectors:

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_f...ead.php?t=5363

Sincerely,
Chris Cavalier

[Vintagedeputy]

Chris,

I'd like to put this book on my Christmas wish list. Do you have any ordering info for me to pass onto my family?

Jim

[ChrisCavalier]

Chris,

I'd like to put this book on my Christmas wish list. Do you have any ordering info for me to pass onto my family?

Jim

Hello Jim,

In the coming weeks, we will be adding the book as a stand alone item offered through the site. In will also be offered in conjunction with a GUU membership. Thus, I would say you can tell whoever they can order the book through GUU (we are the exclusive online distributor) in the coming weeks.

Please feel free to let me know if that answers your question. In addition, please note that GUU does not have control over the actual release date but we will be shipping the books as soon as they are released.

Sincerely,
Chris

[Vintagedeputy]

will this new book be a better version of Bats or is that book still a valuable resource?

[MSpecht]

Hi Jim--

In terms of Hillerich & Bradsby / Louisville Slugger historical information, labeling information, and the COMPLETE H & B shipping records for every Major League Hall of Fame player, the new book will eclipse any book on the market. Virtually any information about H & B / Louisville Slugger that is of significance to the game-used bat collector is included in this book, with additional information such as an uopdated glossary and definitions of terms. This book will set the standard for the hobby.

For the first (and only) time, collectors will have complete information at their disposal to make informed decisions about H & B bats that they are considering adding to their collection. For Hall of Fame players, collectors will now be in possession of every shipping record in existence for each player. This book will enable a collector to double check previous authentications of bats currently in their collections to determine the accuracy of those authentications. The impact of that alone will be significant and have far-reaching effects throughout the hobby and for many individual collectors See the recent threads on the Tris Speaker bat and the Mickey Mantle bat to better understand the implications of the dissemination of this information.

Books previously and currently on the market, in my opinion, will still have relevance to bat collectors. The original 1995 book BATS -- HILLERICH & BRADSBY and ADIRONDACK 1950-1994 (Vince Malta, Ron Fox, Bill Riddell, and Mike Specht) was a landmark publication and many of the photographs and text information, including the sections on Adirondack / Rawlings game used bats, remain relevant and invaluable. BATS should certainly be included in any game used bat reference library, as should the 2001 publication MASTRONET GUIDE (Dave Bushing and Dan Knoll) and the 2002 book CRACK OF THE BAT (Bob Hill).

Good Luck in future collecting.

Mike Jackitout7@aol.com

[Vintagedeputy]

Where on GUU will the book be announced when it is available for purchase?