In light of the recent report that Pete Rose used a corked bat leading up to his record-breaking 4,192nd hit, two Cincinnati collectors had their Rose game-used bats X-rayed recently.
Bob Crotty, owner and founder of Green Diamond Gallery, and Mark Fugate of Diamond Sports had their bats X-rayed on June 16 and both were found to be uncorked.
Crotty’s bat is a Mizuno PR4192, the model Rose used while gathering hits 4,000-4,192. Fugate’s bat is a Mizuno ATHL model that Rose used for the remainder of his career after breaking the Major League Baseball all-time hits record.
On June 8, Deadspin.com published the article “This is Pete Rose’s Corked Bat” by Barry Petchesky. The article alleged that Rose used a corked bat in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies in July of 1985 as he chased the record.
“These are two of the bats Rose used to set the all-time hits record and with the recent controversy surrounding Rose’s bats, Mark and I wanted to see if our bats were corked or not,” said Crotty