Old School Bat Trade

[Trublubrucru]

Last night I went to the Brewers VS. Indians game and decided to take a shot at a baseball bat swap. I had a 1986-89 Mickey Brantley LVS game bat that really didn't fit in my collection, so I took it with me in hopes that I could trade it to Michael Brantley(Mickey's son) for a bat or whatever. Getting there early, dealing with Security that was unaware of its bat policy, and then rushing down to the field just as the Indians finished BP, my girlfriend yelled "Michael" and pointed at me, just as he was about to vanish into the dugout. I explained that I had one of his dad's bats, let him handle it, and asked him if he would trade for a one of his. He said he didn't have one available, so I gave him the bat and my card and said," how about next time you break one, have your game used guy send it to me." He looked at me and said "Deal". We shook hands and posed for a pic. 30 seconds later as I was floating up the aisle, a nice usher(thanks Glenn) tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the dugout. There was Michael Brantley motioning for me and holding one of his gamers. He pulled one from the bat rack and gave it to me and said " I'm a man of my word". WOW. I had him sign it and said thanks and say hi to your Dad. As a 30+ year collector of bats, obtaining one from the bat rack by the player is about as good as it gets. Total class from a real nice guy! Man I love it when a plan comes together. Except uploading photos

[MGHPro]

That's a pretty awesome story !

[Hxcmilkshake]

Nice!

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[sicollector1954]

NICE STORY! I had it happened once in 1998 with Ripken at White Sox park and a 44-48 Gehrig game bat. Made a huge sign...."Cal--will you sign my Lou Gehrig bat"? Had to talk with 3 security people to assure them I was not going to beat someone over the head with the bat first...finally got in...Held up my sign every time he looked over...as he was walking off the field----I yelled...hey Rip...will you sign my bat? He motioned to the usher standing up on the dugout roof for me to hand it to him...usher passed it down.....he looked it over...took a couple of cuts...sat down on the dugout steps...signed it...handed it back to the usher and disappeared....that was the only thing I saw him sign that night with 16,000 people at that game...I was thrilled...

A couple of years later I was at the Sun Times show and paid to have him sign an S.I. with his dad and brother on it....I thanked him for signing the bat and had a couple of pics with me....he still remember that evening! Class Act...

Congrats.

[39special]

That's a great story.There are still some descent players out there!

[RedsFan1941]

great story!!!!!!!!!!!

[MVSNYC]

What a cool story.

[Dewey]

Awesome story for all parties involved.

[baseball tourist]

Very cool!

[parker1b2]

That is great!!!!

[Leon]

Awesome stuff. Got the pics fixed for ya too....

[batsballsbases]

Very Nice ! Love these stories!

[Jobu]

Kick ass story! And great game use on the bat. Thank you for sharing, stuff like this always makes me smile.

Is his dad's bat a gamer?

As a Brewers fan and Wisconsinite, I can say it probably didn't hurt your chances that Brantley came up through our organization.

[Trublubrucru]

It was an uncracked gamer that was signed in vintage green ink " Best Wishes Always, Mickey Brantley #14"
I got it in a deal at a Milwaukee card show. Makes sense, after Mickey's stint in Seattle, Milwaukee did give him a shot.
The first pic shows Michael sizing it up and he gave it a good feel. After he had it in his hands, I could tell he liked it, and I wasn't going home with it.

[JoeDfan]

That is awesome!!!