Posted By:
Mike H1. Probably cracked. When taped for grip, they usually don't go that far up the barrel.
2. The Grade is poor. Missing knobs and cracks are much harder on store model bats than gamers. Most collectors want store model bats as close to production condition as possible.
3. Don't remove the tape unless you are going to restore it. I have sent many bats over the years to Fred Lowman. He is an absolute magician with bat restoration and his prices are excellent. He is very honorable and I have never heard of an unhappy customer. Here is a link to his site.
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Lounge/9158/batrepair.html
4. This bat is from the teens.
5. Sam Crawford bats aren't particularly rare or valuable. Probably $300-$400 in NM condition. Before you do anything, consider what you want to do with the bat. If you want to enjoy if for years and you don't like the condition, get it restored. If you plan of flipping it, you need to consider the cost of the bat plus cost of restoration before you do it. Fred will give you a ballpark, but charges based on time. If you do flip it, you need to disclose what has been restored. I've sold some very high end bats to advanced collectors and dealers over the years, and none balked at a bat from Fred and I didn't take a hit on price for any of them.
Good luck