Collecting Game-used: No MLB Authentication? No problem ...

This zoomed-in crop of a publicly available Getty Images preview photo taken by Lisa Blumenfeld shows four spots of wear that can all be seen on this Nick Swisher game-used SSK bat from 2012 that Buzz owns today.

Most of the time, your safest way to pick up a piece of game-used memorabilia from Major League Baseball action is to look for the sticker.

You know, the MLB Authentication sticker that has a code to tell you exactly when and where an item was used -- an ironclad way to know something is legit as it's stickered immediately after an item is pulled from play. But there are limitations to collecting game-used memorabilia.

Not every item that gets used gets a sticker -- and that's where you can find gems.

If you can take that risk and do the research, you can find an item that's better than stickered -- you can find pieces if you know how to photo-match. Not every item can be matched every time for sure, but that's part of the fun of collecting -- the hunt for the items and the hunt for images to show that they are, indeed, 110-percent legit.

You can keep reading to see the details this time.

THE BASICS ...
Game-used bat (not MLB Authenticated): Nick Swisher SSK Pro Maple LDM model
Watch it in action: Didn't search for videos this time due to age (2012).

The matchup: New York Yankees at Los Angeles Angels, May 29, 2012, and at Detroit Tigers on June 2, 2012.
The result: Not play-specific matching (limited info on photos) but definite in-game use.

What's Buzz-worthy: I normally stick to the obviously authenticated pieces here and try to photo-match them, but this one was a pretty solid eBay find for far less than a hobby box of 2020 Topps baseball cards right now -- and about half or a third of the price of what it would be if this bat had an MLB sticker or PSA/DNA letter. Meanwhile, it's matched to a pair of games thanks to just a couple of preview images publicly found via Getty Images. (Download their iPhone app ... it's one of your best options on the planet and you can really zoom in on details. It's perhaps the best toy for any memorabilia collector.) Speaking of details, this bat was pounded quite a bit before it was cracked and taken out of use and the detail image up top shows four key spots where unique details can all be seen early on in the life of this bat. The May 29 photo via Lisa Blumenfeld shows a big ball mark above the nameplate, a ring from the bat donut (these aren't rare finds and alone would not make it a match), an ink mark underneath his criss-cross taping pattern and the knob showing the date 3/7/12 -- which was a starting point for searching for images here. They are all in alignment in the exact spots on the bat as seen then and now. I found a number of images in sequence from that at-bat -- a second image shows the start of the torn tape on the knob, too -- after he made contact in a game where he had a hit and an RBI. The second action shot via Mark Cunningham shows the same above-brand ball mark and then hints of two details seen in the handle area -- the ink mark underneath the criss-cross and a tear in the tape in the next "X" down as well as a light line of paint wear from the bat rack above the tape leading to the black part of the barrel. These might perhaps be better seen in the high-res images but even in these previews they are obviously there. The gallery below includes a mix of the auction images I had to do on at first, some new detail shots, some bat-Getty image comparisons and others. I've picked up a ton of his bats through the years so I know the details of what had been routine and what wasn't and this one is a prime example of stuff from one of his memorable runs -- by this point he didn't mark his bats much other than doing the taping. But none of those details I know to look for matter with photos of the bat in his hands.

>> See all past Collecting Game-used stories from Buzz here

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