some questions for those that collect signed bats

[Hawaiian BamBam]

hey guys, i am thinking about starting to collect signed bats and I am looking for any answers to any or all of the questions below, (I dont know the answer to these as I have never really got into collecting bats.) thanks:

1. which bats are preferred to get signed, natural wood or the colored bats (ive seen black and brown bats on ebay)

2. which bat types are most preferred by collectors, Louisville slugger, rawlings, biog stick, Adirondack , etc , i see a ton of Adirondack bats on ebay.

3. what type of pen is preferred to use on bats, sharpies? black or blue? paint pens, gold or silver, etc? does sharpie bleed into the bat over time?

4. how do you store bats? in plastic bat tubes? uv protected cases? ive seen some people even use socks!

5. how do you send a bat for a ttm autograph request? do you just include a sticker return label? how do you do the return shipping costs?

6. where do you/can i buy bats to send ttm requests?

7. anything else i need to know about getting into bat colelcting? any tips, advice, thoughts, etc


thank you so much.

 

[zlw1]

Brown/Black Bats- Use Silver
Blonde Bats- Use Blue

Thinner pens don't run as bad either, especially if your going after teams.
When I used to buy cracked bats from minor stadiums for $10-$20, I could get the entire team with a Steadler Blue Ink Pen or thin Silver Sharpie and fit them all on the bat with ease.

Buy bat tubes, and you can make your own bat rack for about $30-40 with two pieces of trim wood, pegs for the bats to rest on and some color finish to put onto the wood to match your room etc.
To put up 14 bats in all that I owned at the time, including the tubes and rack, it cost me about $80-$100 in supplies total. Looked very good before I started to sell them off to pay for school. Tubes run at around $5-8 each.

Sending bats for ttm is difficult because return shipping can mess them up, or they may not come back.
I normally use clear stickers and apply them to the bat afterwards like I did with Carl Erskine on my '55 Dodgers Heroes bat with Koufax, and the rest of the team that had signed it before I received it as a gift.