Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Mets Wally Backman Game-Used Bat

I picked up my first game-used bat.


The bat in the picture is a game-used bat from Wally Backman. You can see it matches the bat in the card from the previous post. I bought the bat from "Mookie's Tickets and Sports Memorabilia" at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland.
I've never been a huge game-used collector since there always seems to be issues with legitimacy and such, but Lenny (the owner) sold me on this one. He had a ton of '86 Mets bats. HoJo and Gary Carter may be my favorite Mets, but Backman is right up there. He was such a spark for those late-80s teams.
I still believe Wally Backman would make a better manager than half the managers in baseball - just look at his minor league managing records and awards. Yes, he had some off-field issues, but should they prevent him from working in the major leagues?

Anyway, what's your suggestion on the best way to display a game used bat? Right now, I have it in a plastic bat tube.

I'm also thinking about getting it signed, but I've read some negative feedback by a certain promoter that has Wally at an autograph session this month. Do I take the chance? Or wait for another Wally Backman signing?

3 comments:

Olds said...

I don't think I'd get a dark-color gamer like that one signed. Not a big fan of silver pens and the results can be hit and miss.

Anonymous said...

I've seen some nice wall-mounted bat racks, but my tiny collection of four game-used bats are all stored in tubes in the corners of a closet.

I'd wait for an opportunity to get the bat signed in-person.

James said...

@Olds - What about a silver or white paint pen?

@Paul - I think you're right... I should play it safe and do it in-person, if I get it signed.