Vintage GU Bats - Undervalued?

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by sicollector1954

Now I know where they all went! LOL.

Seriously, I recently had a case where a game used bat was being given a number grade and letter. I was told in a text it would be a 9.5. Then an hour later, I received a second text saying that after an in person examination of the restoration work that was done, it would now be a 9. Makes you wonder if someone took a look at all of the 9.5 outs their of this particular player and decided that maybe there are too many and we better lesson the grade a little. Or that in the restoration work, some of the use disappeared somehow. A lot of power for only a couple of people whom deal with certification letters. Just saying.

The game use of course stayed constant - the repair work must've not been first rate.

My pet peeve regarding bat grading is that they use one grade to evaluate 2 distinctly different things - use by the player the bat was made for, and condition.

I once had a 1964 Frank Robinson bat that was clearly ordered by and used by him. It matched factory orders specifically to that year, it was not the model number used for pro stock, it had his uniform number on the knob written in his usual style, I believe the handle was scored, and so on. The PSA/DNA letter made it clear it was used by Frank.

But...... there were a lot of tiny abrasions and scratches on it, which Taube attributed to kids playing with it after it was cracked and discarded by Frank. Because of these imperfections, it was graded GU 6.5.

What it should've been graded was something like:

Authenticity: GU 10
Condition: GU 5

Personally, I'd rather have a bat with flaws that was definitely used by the player, rather than a nice looking bat with uncertainty as to who used it.