Chris - a review of Clemente's personal ordering records that you referred to are correct. He only ordered 34" bats once in his career - in 1957. I am shocked at the price that this bat brought and my only comment is that you had two uneducated buyers driving the price up on this piece. I remember seeing the bat when the auction first posted and once again I breezed right over it when I saw that the bat was 34" in length. I never gave it another thought and assumed it would sell for less than $1,000 for sure. The fact that it received a 7.5 grade by MEARS and your question of comparing a 7.5 Team Index Grade to a 7.5 Personal Order Grade is an excellent question! What's the difference!? I guess a 7.5 Clemente personal ordered bat would bring twice this?? Because I can tell you - a knowledgeable bat collector who understands team index records vs. personal ordering records wouldn't touch this bat for $6,000.

I don't care that it had #21 on the knob as I don't think the collector really understands what a Team Index bat may indicate - this particular bat may have been ordered by the team, another player or even a minor league team. Anyone could have placed the #21 on the knob. Full disclosure should have been made which I have mentioned in the past that he only ordered 34" bats once during his career. What's even more disturbing is that the description for the bat includes the following:

Presented here is an H&B "O16" signature model bat wielded by Clemente during his fence-clearing days at Forbes Field.

When you read this you think - ok - Clemente used this bat - it grades a 7.5 - it must be great!! Unfortunately, uneducated buyers think 7.5 means value and in this case, it doesn't.

Here's a question for you - why would I not pay $5 for this bat and someone would pay $6,000 for it? The answer - they don't know what I know about shipping records and they are relying on a glossy catalog description and a grade of 7.5 and they really don't understand what's behind it............the best thing about this site is that we can educate buyers so they don't make mistakes and this is an excellent post!!!

I would love to hear others take on Chris's question........

Lastly, I feel sorry for the winning bidder, because they probably think they have a gem - and what they really have is a big ? mark. Jim