Rick Cates asked:


Demarini Baseball Bat Review

Is Demarini the best Baseball Bat on the market? The 2009 line up of baseball bats may well be the best bats Demarini has ever made! Established in 1989 Demarini Bats, a sub-division of Wilson, is making a strong case to take over the baseball bat market. All of the Demarini bats have flexed tuned carbon composite handles which are lighter than alloys and will flex 2 to 4 times more providing more power at contact. Demarini makes 3 collegiate and high school approved bats, each having a different patented end cap. New for 2009 Demarini is touting their new “Pitch Black” composite technology claiming it is stronger than competing technologies.

Here is the line-up for 2009

CF3 Black (or special edition white) is a 100 % composite, two piece bat with double walls and “Pitch Black” technology. This technology touts 22% more carbon fibers than any other bat on the market with no fillers added which should give it a distinct advantage when it comes to power. This enables Demarini to double re-enforce a vertical and horizontal weave. This process provides the strongest and tightest composite weave resulting in more over-all power. The 2009 CF3 comes in collegiate or high school sizes as follows:



31/28

32/29

33/30





34/31



For senior league:



29/21

30/22

31/23

32/24



The 2009 Demarini Voodoo Black is made with pitch black composite handles combined with the newest SC4 Alloy. The Voodoo is a high quality bat with a proven reputation at a very reasonable price. The Voodoo is a very popular bat with a larger sweet spot that the ball really explodes off of. The line-up of 2009 Demarini Voodoos come in Collegiate and High School sizes as follows:



31/28

32/29

33/30

34/31



The 2009 Voodoos come in Senior League sizes as follows:



29/20

30/21

31/22

32/23 (-9’s)



The Demarini Voodoos also come in minus 10 as follows:



29/19

30/20

31/21

32/22



The Demarini Vendetta.

Demarinis slogan for the 2009 Vendetta is “Attack the ball with a vengeance.” This bat is completely re-designed using “Rail” technology to completely re-define bat handle technology. The 2009 Vendetta comes with 4 flat composite rails with varying flexes that run through the handle and reduces vibration, increases bat speed and delivers a nice combination of handle to barrel flex. New SC4 Alloy in the barrel rounds out this bat of choice for many Division 1 Programs. The 2009 Demarini Vendetta comes in the following sizes for Collegiate and High School baseball:



31/28

32/29

33/30

34/31



For Senior League the following sizes are available:



29/20

30/21

31/22

32/23



Last but not least is the 2009 Demarini Vexxum. This bat comes with a 100 % composite handle and exclusive SC4 Alloy comprised with Long Barrel technology giving hitters the longest barrel in baseball providing maximum plate coverage and a larger sweet spot. Even though the Vexxum is on the low end of the range for Demarini, it is still a quality bat. The Demarini Vexxum comes in the following sizes for the Collegiate and High School player:



31/28

32/29

33/30

34/31



Senior League bats are available in the following sizes:



31/26

32/27

33/28

34/29



Youth and Little League are available in the following sizes:



28/19.5

29/20.5

30/21.5

31/22.5

32/23.5 (-8’s)



Youth and Little League also are available at -10 in the following sizes:



27/17

28/18

29/19

30/20

31/21

32/22 (-10’s)



Demarini is a player in the baseball bat industry and provides quality bats in both the high and low price range. You can’t go wrong with a Demarini Bat. To see more of my Baseball Equipment reviews visit me at Rick’s Bats and Gloves, ETC.

Irockdapartay asked:


I have several cards that a silly little card shop said were worth only 49 cents. Umm no it was a Joe Montana card and a Dan Marino card. Thos are more and the condition in my eyes is perfect. No bent corners, edges, creases, and perfect centering.

This is the same w/ some of the baseball cards I took in. I need to figure out how to get them rated so I may sell some of them online or at a store proving their worth.

Billy Beansprout asked:


The Nineteenth Century

Baseball and photography in the United States were both seeing an explosion of popularity in the mid nineteenth century. This provoked baseball clubs to start taking individual and group pictures of their members. Some of these pictures were printed on smaller cards, much like modern-day, wallet sized photos. In the late 1860s, baseball became a professional sport, and trading cards began to appear with photos of players and teams. These were mainly used as a means of advertisement for companies, who placed an ad on the back of the card.

A sporting goods store in New York, called Peck and Snyder, began production of trading cards featuring teams. As a sporting goods store, baseball cards were the perfect advertisement vehicle for them. The cards produced by Peck and Snyder are often times referred to as the first baseball cards.

A trade card during these times typically featured an image on one side, and a business advertisement on the reverse side. Color printing technology began to increase the attractiveness of baseball cards. Photos began to be seen in black and white as well as sepia. Some baseball cards were printed as playing cards, either for conventional card games or simulations of a baseball game.

By 1886 cigarette packs often included baseball cards in them for promotional purposes as well as the protection of the cigarettes. Baseball had become so popular by the end of the century that production of the baseball cards had not only spread across the Americas, but also into the Pacific Isles.

Early Twentieth Century

The majority of cards being produced were by candy companies and cigarette companies. Breisch-Williams Company, (a Pennsylvania-based confectionary company), produced the first major set of baseball cards of the century in 1903. Soon after, baseball cards were beginning to appear in more and more products. In 1914, Cracker Jack’s began using baseball cards as the included prize in the box.

The Twenties to the Fifties

Baseball card production began to fall off during World War I due to the transition to wartime production. This lasted until the late thirties, when the United States began to see the effects of the great depression. During the years in between, production of baseball cards went through the roof. The culmination of this production spike was the Goudey Gum Company’s set, produced in 1933.

Again, in 1941, wartime production began to significantly affect the number of baseball cards being produced. In 1948, baseball card production increased once again. The Leaf Candy Company and Bowman Gum introduced the first sets when wartime production came to a halt. During the1950s, Japanese baseball cards associated with the popular Japanese card game, menko, began to flood the market.