Blog: May 24-May 30, 2010

May 25, 2010. If you're considering this McGwire bat, you need to read our Mac bat buyer's guide and compare the pine tar to the pattern on known gamers. Enough said... Here's a nice Ozzie Smith bat that's priced to sell. I repaired this one. It was in three pieces and kind of nasty when I got it, but now that it's fixed, it displays great... This old Cardinals uniform goes off tomorrow night. It's advertised as being from 1923-24, but I can tell you after doing extensive research on 1920s Cardinals jerseys recently that the style doesn't match anything from the '20s -- especially '23 and '24, when the team had uniform numbers on the left sleeve. Could be a variation from 1930, but even that is questionable.

May 26, 2010. I'm not sure what is worse -- cutting up legit game-used jerseys and bats and pasting the pieces to trading cards, or putting phony crap on cards and trying to pass it off as the real thing. If you watch eBay, then you probably seen a ton of these "1/1" uniform and bat cards put out by some outfit called National Sportscard Authenticators. The jersey cards clearly are no good because the pieces are cut from tackle twill retail jerseys. And who sewed on these patches, a 10 year old? I bet the wood pieces from "Pujols bats" aren't even maple. Most readers of this blog probably already steer clear of these awful excuses for collectibles, but if you've ever thought about bidding on one, please reconsider.

May 27, 2010. P. J. Walters not only received credit for his first MLB win today, but he also "graduated" to a lower uniform number. The #62 he wore five days ago was closeted in favor of #40. It's the first time that number has been worn since 2007 when Troy Percival was in St. Louis... Walters used a Marucci with a Gwynn finish.

May 28, 2010. Fernando Salas made his Major League debut today for the Cardinals wearing uniform #59. Those digits were last worn by Rico Washington in 2008... The uniform number database has been updated to include Salas and Walters' new numbers. If Adam Ottavino starts tomorrow as expected, we should see #35 taken out of mothballs.

May 29, 2010. Adam Ottavino did, indeed, take the mound for his MLB debut wearing #35. He used a natural Marucci at the plate... Evan MacLane also was called up from Memphis. The team's Web site says he's #62, but I didn't see him during the game. I'm most interested in how his name appears on his back -- is it all CAPS with a space like McGwire and McKay, or is the "AC" smaller like the first "C" in McClellan? And if it is smaller, is it set high like McClellan, or on the baseline like the "E" in DeRosa was last season and the "C" in McKay used to be?

May 30, 2010. Jon Jay used a black Old Hickory for one AB... Yadi looked like he was using a Pujols bat in the 9th inning... Evan MacLane was sent back to Memphis after the game and did not play this weekend. I still didn't see him on the field.