Seeking help from baseball autograph collectors.. Re: Louisville Slugger bats???

[mrclean08]

I'm completely new to baseball autographs, so please excuse any of my naive questions. I want to get a Louisville Slugger bat signed by Bo Jackson. Here's a couple questions for all the baseball autograph collector boardies:

1) What is the best way to acquire the actual player model of the Louisville Slugger bats that certain players used?

2) Is Louisville Slugger the only bat brand that the players use? (For football helmets, we have Riddell, Rawlings, Wilson, Schutt, etc.)

3) What are the average prices for player model bats?

4) For baseballs, I know collectors try to get the balls signed on the "sweet spot." Is there an equivalent location on bats?

5) What is the best type of autograph medium to use on bats? Sharpie, paint pen, etc?

I'd appreciate any type of help on this subject. Thanks.

[hockeyfightsguy]

I'll anser for ya.
1.) You can't order player model bats with their names on them from Louisville Slugger. Only the player and or team can do that. They do make a few player's retail model bats. The only player's with retail bats are Arod, Jeter, Thome, Griffey, Ramirez. They underline the 125 in the center brand and on the M9 maple bats stamp the handle with a #.
Other bat companies may allow you to order bats with player names on them. Not sure though. I believe X-bats does.

2.) No, MLB has approved a bunch of bat comapnies. I believe the # is around 30. Louisville Slugger is still the most used, but you see a lot of guys using other brands. Here are some other bats I see used quite a bit in MLB. Rawlings, X-Bats, Max bats, D bats, BWP, Route 66, Old Hickory, Easton, Marucchi, Sam Bats are real popular, Barry Bonds made them famous in early 2000, one of the first Maple bats made, now every company makes maple bats. I know last time I did Louisville Slugger factory tour, they now make more M9 maple bats than ash bats.

3.) I know Louisville Slugger gift shop sells retail player model bats for $65-$70.

4.) I guess SS on bat would be having the player sign between the center brand logo and end area where the player's name is.

5.) Sharpie is the best for blonde/natural color bats and silver paint pen for black bats.

[hockeyfightsguy]

Here is a nice collections on game used Bo bats. Looks like he used a few different brands. Also, you can see where he had him sign. That area would be considered the sweet spot on a bat.
http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=9011&highlight=jackson