Game Used experts...

totallyradd

My uncle passed away a few months ago, while my dad was going through some of his stuff he came across three bats that I'm certain are game used: Dave Parker, Johnny Bench, and Hank Aaron. Here's my question, the Aaron bat was cracked at the handle, and someone, my uncle, or someone else, put four short screws in the handle to keep it together. How does that effect the value of it?

I'm pretty happy my dad found them, my aunt was ready to throw all three bats away!

timpatg

Without some sort of provenance proving they are game used, probably not much value.

totallyradd

Aaron:






Bench:






Parker:

mtcards

I run into this issue a lot. I have people bringing GU items, autographs, etc, and they have the back story and IMO, they are telling the 100% truth and the items are legit, BUT........if I was to sell these, there would be no proof other than "Johnny said", so while the items you mentioned are probably 100% legit, getting a premium as game used probably isnt goint to happen. That being said, if somehow the authenticity of the bats were proven in some way, the broken bat will carry a significantly less value than one still in original conditon

totallyradd

I appreciate it MT, I don't plan on getting rid of them, I already have a decent bat collection from over the years. I dunno how to go about getting authenticity, there's gotta be some expert out there that could at least tell you if they were game issued or not. I just like knowing what I have for insurance purposes, or if down the road I were forced to sell I'd have a general idea what to look for.

Again, appreciate it. Coming across an Aaron bat out of the blue doesn't happen everyday. It's too bad that those screws are in there, because the bat's handle wouldn't fall off without them on there. I have a few cracked bats that are barely hanging on, this one is just has that splinter missing.

lawnmowerman

if you're going to keep them I would remove the screws, fill the holes with some wood filler and use wood glue to put the bat back together. As long as its not used to play baseball, the wood glue will hold up and look much nicer than the screws.

mccardguy1

Go here for some basic information....

http://www.ebay.com/gds/BAT-COLLECTORS-VINTAGE-STORE-BAT-REFERENCE-GUIDE-/10000000000937325/g.html

Go here for guys who know game used equipment......they are incredibly helpful and have purchased many of my game used items.

http://www.mearsonline.com/index.php?page=louisville-slugger

And finally.....go here for more guys who know game used and will chat about it

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_forum/


Good luck. From what little I saw you might have a shot at real gamers.

mccardguy1

Apparently I have linking issues. Just cut and paste the links to your browser

mccardguy1

<< <i>Without some sort of provenance proving they are game used, probably not much value. >>



This is false. H&B has released their records of all bats they ever made and it will be easy to tell if this model and length of bat was ever produced for these players. Once this is determined the next step would be to authenticate based on player behavior with their known bat examples. Some players use tape, some use pine tar.......if any of these bats match other know examples it could be proven that this is a gamer. Provenance helps value but it is not the only thing that can prove authenticity.

Ironmanfan

I believe them to all be retail bats unfortunately and while they have some value for display purposes, the monetary value associated with them is not much.

Sorry to hear about your uncle.

IMF

RipublicaninMass

I think they need to say "flame-tempered" for all you antique hunters

Ironmanfan

share with us what is embedded on the knob of the Bench & Aaron's bats if you can

IMF

vols1

You should be able to look up the code on the knob and tell if it's store bought or not. And it's a player bat then the only way to tell if it's game used is to photo-match it to a game.

totallyradd

The Bench bat has JB4 on the knob, and the Aaron bat has 5.

The Parker bat has 04.

So does this make them retail models?

Again, appreciate everyone's help regardless of outcome here.

Arsenal83

That indicates retail bats unfortunately.

Ironmanfan

<< <i>That indicates retail bats unfortunately. >>



what he said; the numerals indicate the length of the bat (for example JB4 means a Johnny Bench model; 34" in length)

IMF