Hello-
Just wondering what eveyone's personal prefrance is on game used bats, Do you like them Cracked, Un-Cracked, Cracked and repaired or it dosn't matter one way or the other.
Cracked is OK as long as they're not hanging by a thread. A nice repair job to me is the best, though. Uncracked often looks unused. I just like a ton of use, anyway. My favorites are alot of use, slight crack, good repair.
My personal preference is nice use but no cracks. If cracked, I prefer slight handle cracks. Some I will repair, depending on whether I am going to display it. And I know this might sound sacrilegious to some serious bat collectors, but I don't mind a mint bat if it is a player I like and I am unable to find one with good use (plus, the price is usually more affordable).
After selling almost 300 bats so far, I find that most collectors like a bat with a slight handle crack, most don't mind a nicely repaired crack and very few people wanted uncracked bats only.
Mark
To me, the ideal bat has no crack, but slight deadwood -- it's unusable but displays well. I prefer cracked bats to uncracked ones and find it funny that some dealers charge a premium for uncracked bats. With some players, especially McGwire, I wouldn't want a bat that wasn't cracked or checked. I'll repair a bat if it's necessary to keep it from splitting more or if someone could get hurt handling it. The saddest thing is a bat with a poor repair job -- most breaks can be fixed and look great, but poorly repaired bats often are beyond help.
Mark,
Great question. I think that a crack in a bat is the truest form of game use. Many other forms of game use can be faked to some degree; ink transfer marks, cleat marks, rack marks, even seam marks to some extent. However, the way a bat cracks as a result of striking a baseball traveling at 90-100 mph is distinct and impossible to replicate. I have a hard time with bats that are uncracked and in premium condition. If there is not reasonable explanation as to why they were put out of commission it concerns me a bit. I like the idea of a player favoring a bat, using it as long as possible, and reluctantly giving it up after if rendered useless as a result of crack.
I like the bats cracked and a little repair work doesn't bother me.
I have few vintage bats that I'm certain are authentic because of the source. I have no idea what they're worth. I do know that they are both from the early 20's and are from former major league players that were ending their careers in the PCL. One bat is Gavvy Cravath (6x NL HR champ) and Duke Kenworthy. Does anyone know what bats like these are worth? They are both cracked and repaired with small nails from the period (1920s).
To me the condition doesn't matter, although I don't care for unused bats. I wouldn't go as far as say I'd never buy one but as stated before, if it's the only one I can find, I'll take it. I'd have to say that for me, the more broken the bat is, the more I like it. Right now I'd got 6 Game Used Bats, all Mariners. I'd have to say my favorite right now would be the Jamal Strong Broken bat, with MLB Auth. sticker. There are some discrepencies with the dates listed my MLB.com or it was used by another player and broken, still trying to figure this one out. Says it was used in Sept. 2004, meanwhile Strong was never called up last year.
I love a game used bat that us uncracked and shows moderate use or better. I have seen so many bats on Ebay, advertised as cracked, that I would not want to own, as it would never display nice. Also the wording Slight crack can be purly subjective.
By no means am I anywhere close to being an expert, but I've seen many bats in the last two years (about 900). When I tell someone a bat has a slight crack, usually it's what I've heard collectors call an "H" crack. From what I've seen, many bats that have nice use will have one of these cracks. I would think a piece of wood (even wood as hard as ash) would have a hard time not cracking somewhat after hitting 90 mph fastballs after a while. Just my opinion.
Mark
I personally like cracked or broken bats, just as long as their is no pieces of name missing or parts of the knob that have model number. I think it adds to the appeal of the bat, knowing that it was in the players hands until it finally broke. I just think and realize on how many uncraked Mcgwire bats are out there. I have only seen a handfull of cracked bats and they seam to bring more money, I guess because they have alot more use than the uncraked version.
