Help with Game Used Bat...
 

Hey guys,

I recently picked up a game used bat and wanted to find out if anyone had an idea on player, year, etc. for this bat... See scans below...any help is appreciated...

Thanks again!!!

This is what I know so far:

First name is MARK\
Team is ATLANTA BRAVES
What looks like s4 or 54 on bat handle bottom
Number 4 at end of barrel

I am no where near an expert (and don't even play one on TV). That said, I think that Louisville Slugger logo was first used after 1980. The only Mark on Atlanta Braves teams that I could think of during that period was Mark Lemke.

David

Braves Bat
 

Labeling on this one is 1991-97. Jeff Blauser wore #4 for the Braves those years, but I couldn't say whether this bat was used him or by another #4.

Do you know what the significance of the name "Mark" would be if it was Blauser??

It's not that usual for a players to share bats. If indeed this was a Lemke bat, it's possible that Blauser, for whatever reason was using the Lemke model bat. Blauser may have been in a slump and wanted to try another model, who knows?

If you can find a Blauser GU bat and a picture of the handle you can match the #4's.

This might be a stretch.... Looked up Atlanta Braves rosters 1981-2009. Here's what I got; Players for the Braves with the name Mark and a vertical line to start their last names; Mark Lemke, Mark Eichhorn, Mark DeRosa, and Mark Kotsay. I ruled out Mark Grant, Wohlers, Whiten, and Teixiera.

None of these players wore the number 4 while a Brave. However Kotsay did wear #4 earlier in his career, in Atlanta the number was assigned to Omar Infante in 2008. Kotsay did hit for the cycle that year (August 14). Don't know if Infante may have been trying to get his bat going by borrowing a teammates who had just hit for the cycle, or what. Impossible to verify.... rampant speculation.... completely irresponsible to suggest anything.. What the hell!

It's true that players once in a while used other players' bats.

I'm guessing that MooseDog is correct. Lemke and Blauser were close friends and teammates on the Bravos. ;)

Guys,

I found a game used Blauser bat to verify how the #4 was written on the bat...pretty close...check out the 4 on the left (Blauser bat) compared to 4 on the Mark bat..

Pretty sure it's a Lemke model as well, as the other last names are too long to keep the correct centering with the team name below.

So is the consensus that the bat is a Lemke model that could have been used by Lemke or Blauser?

I'd go with that. I have an early Manny Ramirez game bat that I bought. the name engraved in the barrel was Tim Tony. The guy said Manny handed him the bat from the dugout in the 90's. I was like, who is Tim Tony? The end of the knob was blacked out with marker and a silver "24" written over it for Manny. Then I noticed the barrel end had been cupped and a "25" was written in there. Holy cow, Tim Tony is supposed to be Jim Thome! I guess the Cooper bat company mis-heard the name. It's not like anyone knew who Jim Thome was back then.