Mears Authenticated Bat Question
 

Hi all,

I recently purchased a bat that was given a grade of A7. I don't really know enough about grading to decipher what that ultimately means. Is a 7 sufficient enough to feel confident it was game used? I'm not questioning their grading but really just trying to understand the results. It came with a COA from someone as well but really just trying to make sense of the cert.

It wasn't a high dollar value item or I would have done more research upfront. It's just one of my favorite modern players.

Thanks!

Chris

I think when MEARS gives a number grade, they usually give a reason for point deductions, was it stated in the auction?

I don't always agree with their points system, I have a jersey that had deduction for too much wear which is just silly.

To abide by the rules, my name--Jim Br@c!L!ano

A7 is good and is a number they'd give to a bat they think is game used.. I'd have to see the specifics for the bat, but the grading does take off points for non-authenticity qualities such as damage. For example, if a jersey is considered perfectly authentic, but the number has been repaired, they will deduct a point(s) for that. They deduct a point(s) if a bat is cracked. If the bat is cracked it won't receive an A10, even if MEARS took the bat from the player's hand right after he left the batter's box. So deduction in points may have nothing to do with their opinion of the authenticity itself, and MEARS's final grades are a curious conglomeration of authenticity and condition. I guess they want a 10 to be perfect example of the bat in all ways.

For modern player jerseys (I think post 1987), without provenance tying the jersey to the player the highest grade received is a 5. That's because modern pro model jerseys were sold retail to the public. Thus, a higher grade jersey has a photo match, team player or related provenance documentation along with it. Different stories with bats, though.

Thank you both. I think it was given a five for player characteristics/factory records and 2 for use. I think the missing points may have been for provenance? It has a Celebz Direct sticker on it, but it probably didn't come directly from the team. It's signed by the player and was reasonably priced, so I thought I'd gamble on it. Great to know regarding the grading though.

They actually have records of the players' bats orders, so know what exact and the number of bats (including all the details including weight, etc) the players ordered. So they can say "This is exactly the type and details of bat the player would use."

I'm not a fan of any of the authenticating/grading companies, but it seems to me the amount of usage is usually what pushes a bat to a 9. I'm assuming your bat is NOT partucularly "hammered"?

I don't have it in hand yet but from the pictures it looks like it saw good use but is far from hammered. The auction pictures from the auction aren't the best, but I don't think it's the type of bat anyone would fake.

I do appreciate everyone's thoughts. I've got a decent game used collection but it's primarily modern Yankees stuff. So, I usually just check for a Steiner cert and pull the triggger. Trying to educate myself more on the non-Steiner stuff though.

you might want to do a search on celebzdirect, though. Especially over at gameusedforum.com