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

I'm now 3-for-3 in this game within the Collecting Game-used series.

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 and here's the first one.)

How was this possible? Just like last time -- with research and some luck while knowing what to look for with game-used bats. I actually picked up this bat with zero idea of when it might have been used -- all I knew about it and the reason why I wanted it was that it was from 2015 when he was on the Braves. In general, this should be his rarest pro gamer -- 46 games in 2015 and then 17 spring games in 2016 -- compared to four years in Oakland, a full season in Chicago, four in New York Yankees pinstripes and then two and a half in Cleveland. Why does this matter to me? Well, thanks to this pick-up, I finally can say I have gamers from each of his pro teams and close to a full rundown of his models of bats he used. (Not all but close.)

This bat is another reminder that not every item that gets used gets an MLB Authentication sticker -- and that 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 Marucci Swish Custom Cut M model
Watch it in action: Click here for one game and click here for another

The match-ups: Braves at Mets, Sept. 23, 2015 (in dugout) and Braves at Marlins Sept. 26-27, 2015, confirmed at the plate (Others are possible but I didn't research further after these matches.)
The result: I didn't track plays this time ... but they're on the tape.

What's Buzz-worthy: The knob is the starting point here -- "08/26/15" is its factory stamping, its birthday of sorts -- and the bat is also simply stamped with his uniform number from this time, 23, rather than having some elaborate knob writing or sticker that he often used throughout his career. That marking gives a start time and a way to eliminate this bat from others. My first stop? The Getty Images photo app -- a publicly available phone/web resource for anyone to peruse when researching -- and I was able to cancel out several games (or at least narrow my dates) based on bat models and their colors. Early in his career, Swisher used one color of bat batting lefty and another color righty -- that still applies to some degree.

Sept. 23 -- Braves at Mets Getty Images preview photo (see details comparison in gallery)

Photos from the stretch of games from Aug. 26 to the season finale (and his career finale) on Oct. 2, show a few different types of bats used. For most, he did not use this model and just a single photo taken by Getty's mononymous shooter Elsa on Sept. 23 provided me with an ironclad match in the dugout. Game action? Not so much. My bat might have been used in that game -- he did use the same model against the Mets -- but in MLB video for two at-bats it was clearly a different dirtier bat than mine. There was a brand-new clean bat used for an at-bat in between those, though. Was it mine? Maybe, but I can't prove it based on any markings like I can with the still photo of its handle in the dugout. As you can see above, the tape job has one of his criss-crossed patterns going over a dark mark on the bat's handle (third X from the top of the bat on the right side) and you can see a hint of a dark spot on the bat also showing in the image at a closer view. Barely. The tape and that spot make it a match, though -- a dugout game-used match. You also can also see some of the stains on the tape then and now. (See all of this in the gallery below.)

While this bat was born on Aug. 26, it was in the bat rack/bag/etc. off and on until I was able to match it to in-game action to a pair of road games in late September. I found his at-bats in those games (links above) and matched this bat a few times in a few ways but it was clearly used at other times (perhaps batting practice?) as well. Why? Because its many small markings weren't picked up by the broadcast cameras during night games or they simply were not there yet. (Lighting and resolution while streaming can create some crazy screenshots of a moving object or person but I did my best.) I have paired (somewhat amateurishly) some stills from the games with some detail shots I took of the bat now to ID spots. In their positions all together, they definitely show this to be that bat. There's always the caveat that the video stills  are from throughout its lifetime of use compared to how it looks now. (For example, I have no idea when its handle was cracked and it was retired.)

Sept. 26 -- Braves at Miami detail comparison (see gallery)

Now, a rundown of the key spots. The knob has a pair of pine-tar/dirt/gunk spots that are hinted at in the screenshot up top. One above the 23 and one to the right of it. Do they look 110-percent the same? No, but they are in the correct spots with some wear here and there for some to have worn off. The dark spot under the handle tape is also visible on Sept. 26 with that area dirtier now than it was then and tweaked some as that's the general area where the bat broke. There's a minor spot that also barely shows up in the broadcast feed but it's there. Another spot? The blotch on the barrel just below the nameplate of the bat is a blob of ink from the stamping on the sweet spot of an MLB ball (seen on Sept. 26 and above). You can also see one spot of pine tar on the handle is darker in the video as well as in how it looks today. (It's a match but the whole handle area is darker after use now than at that time. The darkest spots, though? Same spot.) On the barrel area below his name there are a few groupings of marks from baseballs that are matches, too, with one being half of the MLB logo on the ball left on his bat. (Fun trivia time: He hit the final homer of his career in the same game where this bat was used on Sept. 27 ... but it was with a black bat. So close.)

My angles aren't exact matches -- photographing bats isn't easy -- but it's close enough to get the gist of things. The possibility that a bat could have the same exact marks in the same positions across all of the wear and tear here is simply impossible. Check out the gallery and examine it all. It's definitely a match.

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

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Click for a closer look at each of these images.