Prices for current players’ game used bats

[Westsiders]

Originally Posted by Forever Young

Trout bat is an insane piece. Personally, i think he is already a lock for the HOF. The only way he won’t have career numbers is if something TRAGIC happens. As in, death or horrible injury. I am sure people will disagree with me on this and they would not be wrong probably. But the guy is INSANE. If he were on the Yankees, his stuff would be worth DOUBLE.
His bats are pricy.. I paid up for a hr bat of Hernandez.. but man.. it sure is a beautiful bat

As for Judge.. He is a Yankee and had a monumental rookie season(in the books) so he will always have that. But.. his bats should be nowhere near say trout.

As for comparing to old hof’ers: I agree with op on the thought process. If a trout bat is say going for 31k, an equal mays first hit should be 310k or more. The thing is.. the old guys bats are not rock solid provenance many of the times. To compare a trout 10 bat first hit to any 60s mays bat is not a good
comparison. There is a leap of faith. Also, you are comparing prices you paid in the 90s. Bat prices/market has obviously gone up since I would rather have a Mays bat much more than a trout bat if all things were equal though no doubt and pay much more.

Congrats on the Trout HR bat off of King Felix (assuming it’s the #36 HR bat)! Beautiful Bat! It’s the only modern day Bat that I regret selling. I should have kept that one, but we all know how that goes...selling one Bat to fund another.

[Forever Young]

Originally Posted by Westsiders

Congrats on the Trout HR bat off of King Felix (assuming it’s the #36 HR bat)! Beautiful Bat! It’s the only modern day Bat that I regret selling. I should have kept that one, but we all know how that goes...selling one Bat to fund another.

Yes sir. That is the one. Hard not to love this guy and msybe..just maybe this supporting cast will help him get to the playoffs. Postseason needs trout.

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by MGHPro

Quality jeter bats are much more scarce than it seems. While there's a ton of jeter bats on the market , there really aren't that many with heavy/pounded use .

It seems to me the reason for that is that Jeter and many others consciously send bats to the market. Isn’t Steiner a large part of that? McGwire was doing the same during his 70 HR season.

Years ago, I had a phone conversation with Vince Malta. It was actually right about the time McGwires were going for insane prices. Vince theorized that Mays probably went through 750 bats in his career. Of those, he figured half were gone forever (dumpster, etc). Of the remaining 375, he figured half of those were in collections and would never be resold. So that left maybe 180 total Mays bats to be recycled through the market. I would put my Mays in the “never to be re-sold” but who knows what my wife will do with it when I’m gone...

[MGHPro]

Yes . Steiner has their hands in many teams game used items at this time .

As for mays - I doubt 375 honestly still exist .. unless there's a stash of them sitting somewhere unknown to the hobby .

Originally Posted by ooo-ribay

It seems to me the reason for that is that Jeter and many others consciously send bats to the market. Isn’t Steiner a large part of that? McGwire was doing the same during his 70 HR season.

Years ago, I had a phone conversation with Vince Malta. It was actually right about the time McGwires were going for insane prices. Vince theorized that Mays probably went through 750 bats in his career. Of those, he figured half were gone forever (dumpster, etc). Of the remaining 375, he figured half of those were in collections and would never be resold. So that left maybe 180 total Mays bats to be recycled through the market. I would put my Mays in the “never to be re-sold” but who knows what my wife will do with it when I’m gone...

[bat_master]

Originally Posted by MGHPro

Yes . Steiner has their hands in many teams game used items at this time .

As for mays - I doubt 375 honestly still exist .. unless there's a stash of them sitting somewhere unknown to the hobby .

Agreed. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the number of Mays bats in existence was in the 100-150 range. The numbers get even smaller the further you go back.

[Mark]

Originally Posted by bat_master

Agreed. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the number of Mays bats in existence was in the 100-150 range. The numbers get even smaller the further you go back.

Interesting estimate. When writing about the Louisville Find in 1992, Michael Montbriand estimated in the SCD that there were only about 800 bats in that find of pre-war, game used bats that carried the names of HOFers and star players.

[biohazard]

Originally Posted by ooo-ribay

Looking at Goldins current auction, as an example, I am amazed at what Judge, Trout, etc. bats are fetching. They’re good bats, with good provenance, but the prices seem crazy. Judge may or may not be a HOFer. Trout most likely is.

Still, I bought an early SF Bonds bat, years ago, for $350. Yes, steroids, but also the all-time single season and career HR leader. In the 1990s, I got a legit early 1960s Mays gamer for $2500.

Is it just me or are the current prices crazy? Another reason I think people are overpaying is because, unlike the days of Mays, game used bats are now purposely kept and “sent to market.” A lot of Willie’s bats ended up in the Candlestick Park dumpster.

In my opinion prices are insane for some of the current players. Yadier Molina game used bat with an asking price of $800-$1000?? When did he die an enter the hall of fame? In this day an age, everything a player touches is considered memorabilia. For the current player, supply is not limited. The card companies need game used material for cards. Game used is hot.

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by bat_master

Agreed. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the number of Mays bats in existence was in the 100-150 range. The numbers get even smaller the further you go back.

Well. Vince Malta's estimate was 375 Mays bats in existence but only half of those "available."

[packs]

Modern game used prices are insane to me too but sometimes it's the only way to get something "unique" for a modern player. As discussed, there is an abundance of material out there for any one player, but when you factor in game used, sometimes you can find yourself a totally unique item for an oversaturated market and player.

For example, here's my Mike Trout career hit #410. There is only ever going to be one of these, which makes it a cool Trout item and is much more interesting to me than a bat he used for batting practice that is technically "game used":

[parker1b2]

I think some of the bats are also purchased by non-collectors in a sense that they just want to show off a "trophy" for the lack of a better term. For example, my accountant is not a collector but does have Jeter bat he got from Steiner in his office.