Blog: April 6-April 12, 2009
April 6, 2009. The best day of the year is here at last! A couple uniform number changes to note. Joe Thurston traded his #65 spring training jersey for #22, while David Freese moved from #66 to #12... As expected, the 2009 All-Star Game patch is sewn to the players' left sleeves... Molina is wearing a Cool-Flo batting helmet. I think that could be a first for a Cardinals player during the regular season... Most returning players were using their regular brand of bats except for Duncan, who is using Rawlings instead of Carolina Clubs... Of the new guys, Khalil Greene is using Old Hickory and Freese is using Marucci... Albert is applying more pine tar on his upper handle this year... If Cool Base jerseys are being mandated this season, the Cards must not have received the memo. Most players were wearing knits on this cold day.
April 7, 2009. Molina is the first player to switch bat brands this season, going from Sam to X-Bat... Rasmus swung a black ash LS in his MLB debut... Thurston used a Gwynn-finished Sam while Lohse used a Gwynn Marucci... Here's a better shot of the heavy tar Pujols has been applying to his bats... You'll see more Gwynn-finished bats this season since maple bats no longer are allowed to be painted solid colors. If a player is using a black bat, you can bet it's ash... After Rasmus got his first hit, the first base umpire tossed the ball to the dugout where it was snagged by Joel Piñeiro. Joel deftly put it in his left pocket, turned and, with his right hand, tossed another ball into the seats. The prank was played at Colby's expense, but the fan who caught it also surely was tricked. So, if you see Colby's first hit ball show up on eBay, pass.
April 8, 2009. Duncan was using a natural Rawlings instead of a black one. Khalil Green also was using a natural Rawlings... Both Rawlings and Louisville Slugger have new branding this year. Rawlings' center brand is similar to the old one, but a banner with text has been added to the bottom. I haven't seen one close up yet, so I'm not sure what it says. Louisville Sluggers made in 2008 will have H&B's 125th anniversary logo on the sweet spot. Here's a press release with more information. There's also a new M9 logo, but I haven't seen that yet.
April 9, 2009. Carpenter was using a natural LS M9... Ludwick used an all-black Rawlings in his last AB, but it had the old center brand, which is curious. Here's why. There are many new regulations this season regarding maple bats. One rule is that they can't be all black -- at least the handle has to be natural so the grain is visible. Until this AB, Ludwick had been using bats with natural handles (and the new logo). So, was Luddy breaking the rules by using an all-black maple bat? Or was it ash? The general rule of thumb this year -- if the bat is solid black, it should be ash... Several Cards players are using Louisville Sluggers, but so far, I haven't noticed that any of them have the new anniversary logo on the barrel.
April 10, 2009. Piñeiro was using a Gwynn-finished Marucci maple bat when he was swinging for hits, but switched to a natural ash Rawlings when called up to lay down a bunt. That's not the first time I've noticed a player trading hard maple for softer ash when the situation called for a sacrifice... Freese used a natural-finished B45 birch bat tonight. He might be the first Redbird to ever swing that brand. He also used a Gwynn Marucci and it looked like "DF" was stamped into the knob. Marucci typically stamps the player's uniform number. Maybe they use initials for young guys whose numbers aren't necessarily known until opening day.
April 11, 2009. I could see the Louisville Slugger 125th anniversary logo on Wainwright's, Rasmus' and LaRue's bats today, but it wasn't on Barden's bat... Thompson used a natural LS M9 for his first plate appearance, but broke it on a foul ball. He replaced it with an unfinished ash LS -- Wainwright's bat -- and stroked a single.
April 12, 2009. Lohse used his maple Marucci today and didn't switch to ash when called upon to bunt... Brian Hillerich of H&B says that the first run of 125th anniversary logos were larger than the ones now being stamped onto bats. Apparently, the larger logos looked fine on longer bats, but stood out too much on shorter bats. All bats now have a smaller logo. He also says not all LS bats will have the logo because some players have requested it not be used on their bats.
