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

I'm 2-for-2 this season ... and my hit streak isn't over. There will be more.

What am I talking about? Picking off game-used baseball bats for the retired player I collect, Nick Swisher -- and in this case it's another 100-percent game-used and photo-matched piece ... but one without an MLB Authentication sticker. (Here's last time if you missed it.)

How was this possible? Some research and some luck -- but also knowing what things to look for with game-used bats. In this case, the bat model is somewhat common (used in his Yankees and then Indians years after Louisville Sluggers for most of his career before that) but the handle customizations were not the norm for most of his career. The grip was the first clue when trying to lock down a timeframe of when this bat was used and then a date written underneath the "33" sticker on the bat knob once in hand provided a starting point for still-image searches. Once I found those, then I went to video for additional ironclad matching.

This bat is another reminder that not every item that gets used gets a sticker -- and that's where you can find gems for any player.

You can keep reading to see the details this time.

THE BASICS ...
Game-used bat (not MLB Authenticated): Nick Swisher SSK Pro Maple D195XL LDM model
Watch it in action: Click here for one game (first at-bat) and click here for another (full game)

The match-ups: Toronto Blue Jays at Cleveland Indians, April 18-April 19, 2014 confirmed.
The result: I didn't track plays this time ... but they're on the tape. There's at least one hit here ... I'll research the career number at some point for fun.

What's Buzz-worthy: If you click on the high-res video still up top and zoom in on the bat knob, you can see specs of black ink where the date "4 - 10 - 14" is written underneath the "33" sticker -- so that's a video match, too, beyond my stills that clearly show markings on the bat that match it in my hands today. That date is where I started with a search of the super-reliable and publicly available Getty Images preview images site. (It's also available free on your iPhone if you like apps and it's easily one of the most-important tools for collecting game-used stuff.) I found three images from two games where you can see this bat in use with its grip's logos and ending points matching up exactly with a black mark directly above where the Lizard Skins grip tape ends. You can match the logos on the tape, its angles and then markings on the bat that all align, though the black glossed surface in still photos sometimes reflects surface indentions more than any discolorations left on the bat from hits now. (This bat likely was used beyond these two days as it's definitely got some wear to it beyond what's seen on those two days.) I picked this one up for far less than what a 2020 Topps Series 1 box is going for right now and it easily could have carried a price double or triple that had it been MLB stickered or had a PSA/DNA letter. With the photo matches you can see here, it doesn't need any of that.

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

--

Follow Buzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz or send email to BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com. 

>> Click here to buy baseball cards on BlowoutCards.com

Click for a closer look at each of these images.