Posted By:
davidcyclebackI can't imagine a janitor bringing a gu Robinson bat to work. If he's serious, he can bring photos.
At gameuseduniverse.com there is a section where you can see if the stamping on a Robinson bat matches a bat that would be given to him personally for game use-- as opposed to a store model. So you or the janitor can see if the stamping is correct for a gamer. A while ago, someone showed pics of his Hank Greenberg bat (or someone on that order) that he had for a long time, and the stamping was correct for it being the player's gamer. Of course, more people will have 'game used' bats that turn out only to be store models. The number of game bats the manufacturer made for a player like Robinson was very limited, so even a game bat without game use would be rare and valuable. There's also a MastroNet bat guide that lists all the stampings for star players, including I'm sure Robinson. Mearsonline.com has a place where you can inquire about a bat you own, with MEARS being one of the best known bat authenticating companies. In the past, they've been good about answering collector questions big and small. Someone there would have no problem telling you if the stamping is for a player issued or store model.
So there are resources where collectors can do their homework on bats, even if they plan on having someone else formally LOA it later.