Thought I'd share this interesting discovery.
I just purchased a vintage photo of former ballplayer and bat maker Zinn Beck holding one of his post-career game bats. The bat looked familiar to me, so I checked the Beck bat I have in my collection, and sure enough -- the same two diagonal black marks near his name appear in both the photo and on my bat.
He must have autographed the bat shortly after the photo was taken.
Not the most earth shattering discovery, but I got a kick out of it!
Greg
http://www.baseballbasement.com