Both of their bats revealed no cork.
Fugate, who calls himself “an extreme Rose fan,” said six to eight of Rose’s bats from 1985 have been found to be corked. Rose supporters have said that Rose, a singles hitter, wouldn’t need a corked bat.
Fugate believes otherwise. He said a corked bat is lighter, thus easier for Rose to swing in 1985 when he was 44.
He said Rose always “looked for an edge.”
Does Fugate believe Rose used a corked bat? “No doubt,” he said Tuesday, June 22, while sitting in his memorabilia store.
Crotty’s bat is a Mizuno PR4192, the model Rose used while gathering hits 4,000 to 4,192. Fugate’s bat is a Mizuno ATHL (all-time hits leader) model that Rose used for the remainder of his career after breaking the Major League Baseball all-time hits record on Sept. 11, 1985.
Fugate said he purchased his Rose bat — autographed “My good wishes to a great fan, Pete Rose” — for $1,000 about seven years ago. With the added publicity and Rose’s continued popularity, Fugate estimated the bat’s worth at $3,000 to $4,000.
Corked bats, he said, are selling for $8,000 to $10,000, though the first corked bat brought $100,000.
“Two guys had to have it,” Fugate said when asked about the price discrepancy.
Later this summer, Fugate is moving his business to Lakota Plaza in West Chester. If the Rose bat had been corked, he would have displayed it in the shop to attract customers.
Twenty-four years after he retired and 21 years after then-Commissioner Bart Giamatti banned him for betting on baseball, Rose continues to make headlines because of his tax evasion, womanizing, and signing autographs in Las Vegas.
Fugate called Rose “a one-man traveling circus.”
(Editor’s note: Rick McCrabb is the director of outside sales and fundraising for Diamond Sports Company in Monroe.)
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.
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