In April, former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher
Andy Rincon visited my store. A California native, Rincon played for the
Cardinals in 1982, the same year the Red Birds won the World Series.
In his rookie year,
Rincon pitched at least 8 innings in his first three major league
starts and had a bright future until a line drive off the bat of Phil
Garner broke his arm. Despite trying to come back both as a starter and
reliever Rincon was never the same player.
Rincon and I
chatted about his baseball and post-baseball when we finally got to
business. He presented me, for consignment, a game-used baseball bat
from Hall of Fame pitcher Bruce Sutter.
Sutter was one of the
most dominant relievers of all time. During the 70's and 80's, he
mastered the split-finger fastball to the tune of exactly 300 career
saves.
Considering relief pitchers barely get at-bats (Sutter
had 11 plate appearances in all of 1982) the cool factor is incredibly
high on this item. I'm just speculating, but this bat might only be one
of a couple dozen Bruce Sutter game-used bats in existence!
The bat is a Louisville Slugger K55 with Sutter's name emblazoned on the
barrel and his number 42 written on the bat knob. The bat isn't cracked
or chipped at all and only shows a few red and black marks from what
are remnants of either contact from the red stitches of the ball or the
ink on the baseball leather. Rincon speculated it was mostly used for
batting/bunting practice.
Thanks for reading and you can check out the auction link.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/READ-BRUCE-SUTTER-Game-Used-Model-K55-Genuine-Louisville-Slugger-Baseball-Bat-/221435857712
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