When Yankee legend Mickey Mantle hit 536 home runs over his career in pinstripes he may have had a little bit of illegal help from a corked bat. Recently one of the Mick's bats was being prepared for auction and was found to contain cork.
PSN/DNA authenticator John Taube was inspecting the bat prior to auction when he noticed that the bat had been altered.
"During our examination of the bat, we noticed a circular area .75 inches wide in the center of the top of the barrel," Taube said. "The finish in the area has also been touched up to mask the circular area. Alterations of this nature indicate the barrel has been drilled and filled with cork. We had the barrel X-rayed and it confirms that the barrel has been drilled and filled with cork. This is the first corked bat of Mantle that we have seen or heard of."
It has long been thought that corking a bat would enable the hitter to hit the ball farther. Studies of the physics of hitting a ball have proven that a corked bat actually decreases the distance that a batted ball will travel.
"There was some anecdotal information from players that there's something like a 'trampoline effect' when the ball bounces off a corked bat," Alan Nathan, professor emeritus of physics at the University of Illinois, told The Smithsonian. After extensive studies Nathan found the anecdotal information to be completely false. Lloyd Smith, an engineering professor, did a similar study and came to the same conclusion.
"If your goal is to hit more home runs you should use a heavy bat," Smith found.
Unfortunately for Mantle these studies came years after he passed away in 1995. It is not known when Mantle may have used the bat or if he even ever used it during a game. In recent years sluggers Sammy Sosa and Albert Belle where disgraced when they were discovered with corked bats. It is hard to imagine Mantle's reputation being tarnished in such a manner.
In a statement about the auction, Grey Flannel auctions addressed the fact that people may be disappointed to learn that the Hall of Famer cheated.
"This may be hard to swallow," the statement read. "But the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Offered here is the first corked bat linked to Mickey Mantle."
The auction has a reserve price of $5,000. According to the New York Post a corked bat belonging to tarnished slugger Pete Rose sold for $8,000 at auction.
