Is It Possible to Get Bat Ordering Records?

[JoeDfan]

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.

[Mark]

Originally Posted by JoeDfan

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.

This post presents a pretty accurate and appealing picture of what it is like to collect old baseball bats. If you find that you've got, for example, a Bresnahan with an unusual length or weight, you search the net to see if anyone auctioned a side-written or otherwise bona fide Bresnahan with the same length and weight of your model. If there's a match, you can tell yourself that you are holding the same kind of bat that old Roger would have used. Even if there is no match, but you find something else that is unusual, such as lathe marks, you can reasonably say that your bat is not the retail model that was advertised by Spalding. But whatever these bats are, they are as close as most of us will ever get to owning a game used Bresnahan, Chance, et al.

In your case, JoeD Fan, I think it would have been irregular for Joe Schmoe to ask Spalding to make them a Bresnahan bat with a longer length that his model came in. But who knows? Maybe Spalding would do or make anything for an extra $2.

[JoeDfan]

Here is an ad from the Keyman site. Notice the bottom part, where they appear to say (if I am reading it right) that you can tell them what specs you want, and they can do it for you.

http://keymancollectibles.com/images/img224.jpg

One other interesting feature of the Bresnahan bat is red rack marks. So I have always been curious...

[Mark]

Originally Posted by JoeDfan

Here is an ad from the Keyman site. Notice the bottom part, where they appear to say (if I am reading it right) that you can tell them what specs you want, and they can do it for you.

http://keymancollectibles.com/images/img224.jpg

One other interesting feature of the Bresnahan bat is red rack marks. So I have always been curious...

Thanks Sean. Have baseball teams always used bat racks? How far back to you suppose they go?

[JoeDfan]

Originally Posted by Mark

Thanks Sean. Have baseball teams always used bat racks? How far back to you suppose they go?

Well, in 1900, we see Wagner behind bats in the dirt.
In 1930, we see Gehrig and Ruth behind a bat tray.

The Gehrig Hanna bat had the "green bat rack marks", per Taube. That bat was circa 1930, if I recall correctly.
So I am not sure if racks evolved from the trays, or the "rack marks" are from the trays.
I have never really thought about it, actually. I will add it to my list to research.

It might be park specific, or something like that.
I just looked at a Ty Cobb circa 1910-1915, and there do not appear to be rack marks on that one, so maybe that narrows it?

I actually had some ideas about rack marks, but I have to research it some more.

Or, maybe some others have a better idea?

[sayhey24]

Here’s what the team ordering books look like —

Greg

[jcmtiger]

Originally Posted by sayhey24

Here’s what the team ordering books look like —

Greg

I’m pretty sure you purchased those Detroit ordering books from me a few years back. LOL. Joe