Brand New Wood

Now on to the last subject from my little teaser I gave a week or so ago. One of the best things about my LCS is the weekly bid board. He'll have everything from cards to sets to autographed pictures, some with certification and some without. and a couple weeks ago he had this bad boy.

One Louisville Slugger autographed bat. Some of you may know that here in Des Moines we a lucky enough to have a AAA baseball team, the Iowa Cubs farm team for the Chicago Cubs. In the course of a game if a player breaks his bat a lot of the time it will end up in the souvenir shop where you can buy it. I'm guessing that's what happened in this case. The bat itself has 30 signatures on it but as I'm going to guess, again, that it was signed at the game no authenticity with it. Some of the guys already have certified autographs in sets so I used that to see if the autos matched. It's also a good thing that several of the players sign with their number as well, it really helps when trying to figure out who they actually are! So let's see who I have of the bat, not going to do all 30 signatures here but just some of the ones I could find. Who knows some of these guys might be playing in the bigs this next year and some of them already are.

#16 is catcher Chris Robinson. Chris is hitting .231 with 2 HR and 25 RBI in 62 games this season

#37 is pitcher Jeff Stevens. Jeff has been called up this season and has appeared in 18 games for the Chicago Cubs. With Iowa he has appeared in 32 games, has 7 saves and is 0-2 with a 3.58 ERA.

Here we have Micah Hoffpauir. Micah has been called up several time this year and is currently playing for the big boys in Chicago. In 7 games this year he is only batting .077. I know that doesn't sound great but he was doing MUCH better in the minors.

#20 pitcher Jay Jackson. Jay is 11-8 with a 4.28 ERA this year.

#1 2nd baseman Matt Camp. Matt has appeared in 122 games and is hitting .274 with 1 HR and 35 RBI's this year.

Taking a bit of a guess here but this looks to be #36 pitcher Hung-Wen Chen. Chen is from Taiwan and with the Iowa Cubs is 2-3 with a 5.70 ERA.

I saved the best autograph for last. As most baseball fans now know the Cubs organization has been grooming a new manager over the last few years and this year he came to Des Moines to take over........

Hall of Fame 2nd baseman, #23 for the Chicago Cubs, Ryne Sandberg. Ryne has been nothing but great to the fans this year. He takes the time to sign before each game and we love him for it! This year with the Iowa Cubs Ryne has coached them to a record of 77-58 and has them headed for the playoffs (not something the Chicago Cubs can say is it!)

There are many other auto's on the bat including Sam Fuld, another player that is spending time with Chicago. But these are just highlights for you. One thing I didn't mention at the beginning of the post was how much it cost me. Well, I think I got a great deal $15.00. I know, no certification.... not a big deal to me. I know how easy it is to go down to Principal Park and have these guys sign. It's the first autographed bat that I own and will be a great keepsake for me in the future.