Serious

[yanks12025]

I'm not saying he isn't top notched.

[perezfan]

Agree that John is top-notch.... However....

That LOA should definitely mention it, if indeed the Bats came directly from Gehringer. That's rather important provenance which would be paramount to anyone looking to re-sell.

If that info was contained in the LOA and/or H&S Description, I am guessing the Bat would have sold for double that amount (or more).

[KrenBats]

Brock, great post. I believe that the bar has been set pretty low for what is deemed a "game used" bat and this is a great example. Much more infomation should be provided in the LOA.

As a collector of Kren bats, I see this happen all the time. One of my favorites - $5K for a DiMaggio "Game Used Bat" - http://www.legendaryauctions.com/Lot...entoryid=55533 that was offered by Kren in their retail catalog. Just because a bat's length and weigh match a player's record, it does not automatically make it a gamer.

[sylbry]

Looks like a $100 bat to with a $2200 shaky story to me.

And what might Gehringer's "player use characteristics" and how is it different from any other player of that era? It's not like they were using tape, pine tar, and numbers on the knob of the bat like more modern players that actually do help pin point a bat to being used by said player.

And second, how did whomever determine what Gehringer's characteristics were in the first place? Not like there is an abundance of close up photos of Gehringer at bat, let along any photo of Gehringer at bat.

Not picking on John here. I know John is about as good of an authority there is on vintage bats. But as a non-bat collector looking in at vintage gamers, without direct provenance to me they are all a leap of faith.

If someone wants to take the time to educate me on the above two questions it would be appreciated.

[MVSNYC]

Brock- didn't mean it that way.

Mike/Bryan- I know putting a bat in a player's hands is rather difficult, but the other very important thing John researches is if the player personally ordered that specific bat, he checks the manufacturers ordering records. I agree that it's not enough to say the bat is the right length and weight...John definitely takes it way beyond that.

[KrenBats]

Originally Posted by MVSNYC

Brock- didn't mean it that way.

Mike/Bryan- I know putting a bat in a player's hands is rather difficult, but the other very important thing John researches is if the player personally ordered that specific bat, he checks the manufacturers ordering records. I agree that it's not enough to say the bat is the right length and weight...John definitely takes it way beyond that.

I'm not saying that John isn't an excellent bat authenticator, but if he "takes it way beyond that", put it in the LOA. As for Kren bats, there are no known factory records.

Nobody has all the information and new things are being discovered. Mistakes can be made. It's healthy for the hobby to have these debates.

[Mark]

As I understand it, Gehringer sometimes taped his bats in an unusual way, with a thin space between each spiral.