Posted By:
Greg ThebergeNot to pour fuel on a fire here, but I guess my question would be why would anyone "restore" a broken bat by repairing a crack, adding a piece of wood to a missing section, removing nails, etc. as seen on that website. The crack was part of the game.
NOT that I'm comparing repairing bats to altering baseball cards (I think grading and paying money on minute grading differences is insane - that's why I'm thankful I collect memorabilia), but I'm probably comparing the process more to restoring antique furniture. If there's historical significance to a piece, the flaws are part of the piece's history. If you intend to use that old chair to sit in, and it's not historically significant, go ahead and restore it. If you aren't, or it's worth money as an antique, you've ruined it by taking away the original finish or adding missing parts. I'm thinking the same can be said for an original bat. I'm quite certain a cracked game used Babe Ruth bat in it's original condition would be worth more than one that someone did major repairs to (Maybe I'm wrong?).
Just like there's nothing wrong with maintaining an original wood finish for furniture, I don't think there would be anything wrong with giving the bat whatever it needed to preserve the integrity of the wood.
Just some food for thought.