Yet another DiMaggio bat question

[JoeDfan]

My latest acquisition: A 1968 Joe DiMaggio bat. It came with a COA; which says it is rated A4 by Sports Collector's Digest (Legit? It is signed by the Mears guy); it is slightly shorter and lighter than my other (known legit) DiMaggio bats. SCD says it was NOT ordered by Joe, more likely ordered by Oakland for Joe's use. D129L is stamped on the knob.

Being shorter and lighter, does anyone know if it would be likely that Oakland would have ordered it for someone else? Or would they have potentially ordered Joe a variety of bats to use? The wrong size and weight makes me think that someone else might have used it instead.

In any event, it has great use marks, with just the right of ball and cleat marks, and that deep, rich color that makes it PERFECT to display. I got it for a great price, so even if it is not "legit", I don't care, it is going on the wall.

Anyone who knows more than me (ok, so that would be most of you out there. Lol) please feel free to enlighten me.


Thanks,
Sean

[MGHPro]

I would think its a college bat with the name removed . Don't know why mears would write a letter on it . Is there an indent below his name ?

[UnVme7]

I would think its a college bat with the name removed . Don't know why mears would write a letter on it . Is there an indent below his name ?

Thought the same thing. Almost looks like someone removed it and then refinished the bat to make it look like nothing had happened. I don't know why anyone would spend time doing that, and then why a letter was made for it.

[JoeDfan]

Do you mean that maybe someone sanded off their own name below Joe's, and then re-finished it so it looked blank?
I will check for that tonight, and try to post a picture.

Thanks!
Sean

[JoeDfan]

I looked and looked, even with a magnifying glass. There is no sign (to me) that anyone sanded the bat at all. The grain looks contiguous.
I took a photo of it.

It feels totally smooth, just like the rest of the barrel. No divots or indentations.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who gave their opinion.

I also want to take a second to acknowledge jpop43, who sold me the bat. By asking questions, I only wanted to see if I could find some more information. I was in NO WAY implying that he sold me a fake or tried to scam me. I was totally happy with the deal, and he went out of his way to disclose everything he knew about the bat in advance.