When I first joined CBF I had owned the same bat for 3-4 seasons. I then went on a burst of bat buying before finding a cheap low grade CA that was close to perfect and using that for 4-5 years. I bought the odd other bat on eBay if it was a bargain or to refurb, but not that many.
When that bat finally gave up I spent the next 2-3 years spending an absolutely fortune on new and used bats of all shapes, makes and sizes hinting for one that I really felt at home with. Plenty that I liked, but none that really felt perfect. Began to feel that Maybe the knowledge I have gleaned on here has pushed me to the point where I would always be chasing the next, bigger, ‘pingier’, shinier bat, without ever actually being satisfied. While it’s an expensive habit, it was money I could afford to spend so it wasn’t a major issue.
Then in November I bought a fairly cheap GM at IJC, which opened my eyes up to the fact that GM seemed to have upped their game since I last owned one. I used this bag (a diamond Sig) all
Winter before seeing a photo of the Ben Stokes PE. This, I though is the perfect bat!
The only issue is that I had been using 2’9 bats (the ‘perfect’ CA was sanded down to 2’7 by the time I stopped using it) And these only really seemed to come in 2’10 upwards. I hummed and ha’d for a few week aboit whether it was worth £600, before finding a very lightly used one for half that. It arrived and it was love at first sight, they really are a beautiful shape. Used it for a few nets and two games before I had to admit that it was too heavy.
Eventually I saw a thread on here where
@imogzyboy had found a BS PE on eBay in 2’9. After a few months I managed to prize it out of his hands and haven’t (really) looked at another bat since. I’ve even deleted all my set eBay searches. And I’ve yet to be out in three games using it and I’m averaging 52 (up form an all time low of 9 last season).
Here she is:
That’s the only photo I have of it before I stuck some ‘aftermarket’ stickers on it so I could be a FKW, and I know the mods don’t like some people posting fake stickers so that’ll have to do I’m afraid.
Anyone else ever found ‘the One’, anyone believe it exists when you’re as obsessed as most of us are?
P.S. I also spend quite a bit of the winter working with Gio Colussi, which cost as much as a few high end bats, and that may also have something to do with it.