Blog: July 12-July 18, 2010

July 12, 2010. Matt Holliday used a natural Sam Bat during the home run derby. Looks like the same bat he used to hit the deciding HR in Houston yesterday.

July 13, 2010. Albert Pujols (Marucci), Yadier Molina (X-Bat) and Matt Holliday (Sam Bat) used their typical lumber during the All-Star Game, but all were wearing the new Rawlings S100 batting helmet. The S100 has been redesigned from its original oversized incarnation, which earned it the nickname, "Great Gazoo helmet"... Players had the ASG patch on their right sleeves and the left side of their caps.

July 15, 2010. Carpenter whipped out a black Sam Bat tonight... The All-Stars who all wore the S100 batting helmet Tuesday night switched back to their standard-issue Cool Flo helmets to start the second half of the season... Winners of the Jackie Robinson Day jersey raffle received their shirts before the game. $80,000 was donated to the JR Foundation. That means the 30 jerseys netted an average of $2,667 each. No way they raise that much through a regular sale or auction. Beyond the 25 players, I'm assuming the remaining five jerseys belonged to LaRussa and coaches Oquendo, McKay, Pettini and Mason. McGwire's shirt was not included; it was auctioned at a separate charity function.

July 16, 2010. Learned today that David Freese will be signing autographs at Collector's Corner in Swansea on August 15 from 6-8 p.m. All items will be $25. JSA autograph authenticators also will be there earlier in the day... A week later, on August 21, Ryan Ludwick, Yadier Molina and Brian Jordan will be signing at Two Hearts in St. Louis. Information on that event is available here.

July 17, 2010. Brendan Ryan used an X-Bat with a brown handle and a natural barrel, which I call the "reverse Walker," or "Reklaw" finish ("Walker" backwards; get it?). It's rare to see a bat with the handle darker than the barrel. He broke the bat in his second plate appearance.

July 18, 2010. Looks like a couple batting helmets from the Authentics Store have made it online. Apparently, there were no buyers for the Molina and Holliday lids at $300 each, so now they're being auctioned on the team's Web site... This is an interesting jersey. Russell Athletic had the MLB uniform contract back in the mid-'90s, but the Cardinals opted to go with Rawlings. I checked with team officials about the Smith jersey on eBay and was told Russell made a set of uniforms for the team, but the team didn't wear them. Wonder if that's the source of the Ozzie shirt. Always interesting when you see oddball jerseys -- seems they typically belong to the stars and not the bench guys.