Players cleaning ball marks off their bats?

[bobsis24]

Today's New York Post had an article describing Carlos Beltran "methodically wiping a rag over the barrel of his bats. He was cleaning off the marks made by previous batted balls". Beltran said that "It's something I just like to do. I like to wipe off the bad marks and leave the good ones".

Now there's something that doesn't exactly help in photomatching!

How widespread is this practice among players? Has Beltran always done this?

[gorilla777]

I know that Pujols and especially Ichiro come to mind on the tactic...
There's more, I'm sure, beyond those two players.

Ben

[metsbats]

Gregg Jefferies when he was with the Mets used to polish this SSK bats with rubbing alcohol to remove the marks and keep them shiny.

He was so particular with his bats he asked Charlie Samuels to pack them separately from the rest of the teams bats.

[Jim65]

Gregg Jefferies when he was with the Mets used to polish this SSK bats with rubbing alcohol to remove the marks and keep them shiny.

He was so particular with his bats he asked Charlie Samuels to pack them separately from the rest of the teams bats.

Just one of the reason his teammates hated him.

[metsbats]

Just one of the reason his teammates hated him.

Yes one of many. Strawberry threw his game bat into the trash in Atlanta one time after Jefferies handed it to Charlie Samuels in a rush to get onto the team bus. McDowell sawed Jefferies bats in half and tape them together one time too.

[flota89]

Is there a link to this article?

[bobsis24]

I know that Pujols and especially Ichiro come to mind on the tactic...
There's more, I'm sure, beyond those two players.

Ben

With how fanatically Ichiro cares for his bats - the humidor, etc. - I'm not surprised!

[KGoldin]

TED WILLIAMS you can add to this list per The Kid The Immortal life of Ted Williams

[SEAFAN76]

Well you can't rub away the tiny dents made by the threads............

[CampWest]

Still a fairly common practice, but was way more prevalent the further back you go. I recall Ted Williams and Pete Rose talking about wiping down their bats with rubbing alcohol to keep them clean from dirt, debris, pine tar build up, etc. I've seen players do that more recently too. A lot of players used to bone their bats, which also removes ball marks including seam impressions.