Albert's knob stickers. On Cardinals broadcasts in beginning in late June, it was apparent that the knobs of Albert's Louisville Slugger ash bats were marked differently than normal. It looked like the knob was blacked out and "5" had been written over it in white or silver. On closer examination, though, viewers could see the circle was perfectly round and the white five was not handwritten.

LS bat on 7/4 in Arizona.

When I saw this, I was reminded of a recent conversation with Scott Bader of Schutt Sports. Bader said Schutt had been working with the Devil Rays on a new way to mark their bats using stickers. After seeing Albert's bats, I sent Scott an e-mail to ask if Schutt was behind Albert's stickers. He said not directly, but that the Tampa Bay equipment manager said Pujols and several of the other Cardinals saw the stickers and liked them when the team visited Tampa. "I know that Pujols got some stickers from them, but I don't know how many," Bader said.

Sam Bat on 7/10 in S.F.

The stickers being used by Albert apparently were intended for the bats of Rocco Baldelli, who is out for the season. Beginning July 9, the same type of sticker Albert had used on his clear LS ash bats was visible on the knob of his unfinished Sam bat.

So, if you see any Pujols bats with the sticker, now you know the story.