In my case, they emailed me back within the day.
I think your question about bat lengths is a slippery slope. If, for example, you have a bat that is supposed to be 35", but is slightly short, and has other markings indicating that someone worked on it (like a hand turned knob with rasp marks), that might be an indicator.
I have a Spalding Bresnahan Autograph bat, circa 1912 -1925. The 1912 catalog says these bats are 32 1/2", and between 40 - 44 ounces. My bat is 33 1/4" (and 39.45 ounces). Does that make it a gamer? It would be exciting to think so of course.
But I got this great advice from other collectors when I was starting out: without any other evidence, you can't conclude that.
I also learned (from the great collectors in this forum) that many of the bat companies back in the day would allow Joe Shmoe to order whatever he wanted on a custom order. So that makes things even more difficult.
On the other hand, bats that don't match the "store specs" are always worth a closer look, in my opinion. I have gotten excited more than once, and I have quite a number of "peculiar" bats in my collection that have unusual features. In the end, there is not enough empirical evidence to conclude anything.
However, that said, for me, that is half the fun of bats. I can research all afternoon, and sometimes, you really DO find something. That has happened to me a few times.
Good luck with your bat collecting. I always thought it was AMAZING to have a bat in your hands that a player once actually used.
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