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Posted By: John

I bought a Reach World Series bat that was taped much like the Crawford. I too figured it was cracked. When I received it, the thing was just plain nasty. Black crud and rotten vintage tape. I figured I had no choice but to rip off the tape and give it a thorough cleaning. And I do mean thorough. Underneath was a beautiful piece of wood, no cracks or splits. I uncovered a decal on the barrel and the finish has the charred marks from the factory. I've since seen it in a Reach catalog, dating it to 1919 to 1921. The ones in the catalog had a ton of tape, so I'm pretty sure I tore off the original stuff. (It had to go). My point is, don't necessarily be afraid of tape. I think it may have been fairly common in the teens and twenties on some models.