Let’s start a game used bat thread.

[Mark]

Hi. Welcome to this side of the hobby. To my mind, collecting game used or pro model bats, caps, gloves, etc. takes the baseball collector much closer to the actual game.

If I were starting out, I would spend some time searching for bats on old Heritage Auctions, MEARS auctions, Robert Edward Auctions, Hunt Auctions sites.... they all have archives. This should give you a rough picture of what is/was out there and, in the case of very old bats, how often (rarely) they are available. If you have a favorite team, that can help you search. There a number of books, booklets, and a few articles that are useful if you become hooked.

[Bpm0014]

Dude great Waner!

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Mark

Hi. Welcome to this side of the hobby. To my mind, collecting game used or pro model bats, caps, gloves, etc. takes the baseball collector much closer to the actual game.

If I were starting out, I would spend some time searching for bats on old Heritage Auctions, MEARS auctions, Robert Edward Auctions, Hunt Auctions sites.... they all have archives. This should give you a rough picture of what is/was out there and, in the case of very old bats, how often (rarely) they are available. If you have a favorite team, that can help you search. There a number of books, booklets, and a few articles that are useful if you become hooked.

In the mid 80s, we'd go up to Cooperstown every summer. In one of my initial posts here, I discussed my dad and I meeting Larry Fritsch at his museum and actually being around his Doyle card (one on display, one he was reviewing). Now this memory is 35 years old and might have definitely morphed into something else over time. But one of those trips, we bought two wool baseball caps: one was a Washington Senators wool cap, the other was a maroon cap with a gray bill and a G embroidered on it. They sold it to us as "Homestead Grays". When we got home, my dad sort of doubted their veracity. But they were definitely cool.

Thanks for all the tips. I'll check these out over the Thanksgiving weekend.

What a fun site...