May pickups

[Scott Garner]

One sub theme in my advanced Nolan Ryan collection is to find the game used bat of every catcher that was involved in a significant career pitching milestone(s).
Once I find the bat I have had the catcher sign and inscribe their game used bat- ex. Jeff Torborg 1000th strikeout and 1st no-hitter catcher, etc.
Since most of his catchers are fairly obscure, finding a game used bat for these guys has proven to be very challenging...

Some of you that know me may have noticed that I have occasionally posted on the BST looking for a Mark Bailey bat.

This is a collecting theme that I have chased since I first got the idea in the early 1990's. I have been successful at finding a game used bat for each of these milestone catchers. The last game used bat that I needed to get signed was catcher Mark Bailey of the Houston Astros. Bailey is not a common signer, so I sent him a letter letting him know what I was working on and asked if he would sign & inscribe his game used bat. He immediately responded and said he would be glad to do it for me.

This is where things got interesting...
In 2006 I sent Bailey a really nice example of his H & B game used bat along with return postage and a very nice thank you letter.
The interesting thing is that the bat was cleverly corked (ala Slammin' Sammy Sosa).
I noted that the end had been drilled out, substance inserted (cork or ?) and the end was patched up, repainted (in black) and his uni # 6 was written over the end. Of course I made no mention of this when I sent him the bat.
Long story short, he never returned the bat even after I sent him two additional letters, one containing $$. No bat.

It's taken me 9 years to find another one, but mission accomplished.
Needless to say, I will not be sending him this one. It's a nice bat with excellent use. No cork this time though.

[vintagesportscollector]

That's a fascinating story Scott. I wonder if Bailey still has the bat or if he burned the incriminating evidence. I bet those who corked their bats use to keep close tabs on them, so he had properly been wondering what happened to that bat for years.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

One sub theme in my advanced Nolan Ryan collection is to find the game used bat of every catcher that was involved in a significant career pitching milestone(s).
Once I find the bat I have had the catcher sign and inscribe their game used bat- ex. Jeff Torborg 1000th strikeout and 1st no-hitter catcher, etc.
Since most of his catchers are fairly obscure, finding a game used bat for these guys has proven to be very challenging...

Some of you that know me may have noticed that I have occasionally posted on the BST looking for a Mark Bailey bat.

This is a collecting theme that I have chased since I first got the idea in the early 1990's. I have been successful at finding a game used bat for each of these milestone catchers. The last game used bat that I needed to get signed was catcher Mark Bailey of the Houston Astros. Bailey is not a common signer, so I sent him a letter letting him know what I was working on and asked if he would sign & inscribe his game used bat. He immediately responded and said he would be glad to do it for me.

This is where things got interesting...
In 2006 I sent Bailey a really nice example of his H & B game used bat along with return postage and a very nice thank you letter.
The interesting thing is that the bat was cleverly corked (ala Slammin' Sammy Sosa).
I noted that the end had been drilled out, substance inserted (cork or ?) and the end was patched up, repainted (in black) and his uni # 6 was written over the end. Of course I made no mention of this when I sent him the bat.
Long story short, he never returned the bat even after I sent him two additional letters, one containing $$. No bat.

It's taken me 9 years to find another one, but mission accomplished.
Needless to say, I will not be sending him this one. It's a nice bat with excellent use. No cork this time though.

That's really cool. I remember seeing Bailey hit his first home run - a low liner over the left field fence. He did it early in the 1984 season and he had been hitting well for the first week or two. As an Astros fan we were crossing our fingers that we finally had a catcher who could hit but it all went to hell soon after, as usual.

Sorry to hear that in addition to sucking as a hitter and catcher, he also appears to be a jerk.

[eastonfalcon19]

Flea market finds from this morning. 1928 Philadelphia A's team supplement and a Vic Wertz professional model bat.