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Has anyone on here ever directly approached a team asking to buy equipment? What kind of answer did you get? Anyone ever have it work in their favor? I know some things have changed since back in the day so Im curious if anyone has any stories from back in the day too.
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Ryan
NFL game used collector -
Re: Direct approach
Do you mean asking them in person or call/emailing them?
It depends on the team. I emailed the Dayton Dragons ( who are known for not getting rid of their equipment) equipment manager and offered some big bucks for a few small items but i was told the team keeps a close tab on EVERYTHING.
A few teams you can contact and theyll either tell you that they will try and find out (followed by a call or email saying they cant do it) or theyll direct you to whoever is in charge of actually selling the items.Always buying David Justice items -
Re: Direct approach
Many teams sell directly to consumers such as the braves, mets, tigers ,etc. so these days it is not novel there is thread on here about contact people from the teams in the past it was harder as teams did not realize their dirty used equipment was a gold mine.Comment
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Re: Direct approach
I walked right into Seattle Thunderbirds HQ's last year and asked if they had any gamers for sale. I was referred to some guy who offered to sell me jersey's for 495.00 each. I looked at him and said thanks and walked out.Comment
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Re: Direct approach
The only time I've ever tried was back in 1995 and 1998 when Bill Ripken was playing for the Buffalo Bisons & Toledo Mud Hens respectively...I sent a nice, sincere letter to the GM who both times in turn put me in touch with the Equipment Managers, who hooked me up at the conclusion of the seasons (while I don't recall the pricing, it wasn't outlandish).Comment
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Re: Direct approach
i called one team and asked for a jersey, it was, or is , a minor league team. the guy told me that if he sold me one, that it would be $350
, because if he sold it for $100 the club would loose money!
on the other hand, i delt directly with a major league team for 2 years buying stuff. but now, they too, won't sell me anything anymore because they are loosing money by selling items to me on the cheap. they would rather hold on to it and wait for a sap to come and pay top dollar for a common player jersey. greedy!Comment
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Re: Direct approach
It worked for me a few times, although not recently. The San Francisco Giants sold a buddy and me 8 1975-76 gamers when they changed styles in 1977. They raned from the immortal Jake Brown to The Count, Bobby Murcer, and Willie Montanez. Oddly enough, the Murcer was a number changed Bruce Miller jersey. Miller's number was 29, and the 0 that replaced the 9 for Murcer's 20 was noticeably smaller than the 2! Miller's name was in the collar; however, a couple of years later it ended up with a collector of qestionable repute of the era, who yanked the NIC tag out.
I got lucky twice with the White Sox. After the 1977, their equipment guy sold me a navy blue Richie Zisk, while in 1982, after Jim Morrison was traded and while the style of the era was still new, I picked up one each of Morrison's home and road gamers via a front office contact who is now one of the mot respected GM's in MLB.
Ah, those WERE the days...
Dave M.
Chicago areaComment
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Re: Direct approach
Nice! What were the average prices in the 1970s?
It worked for me a few times, although not recently. The San Francisco Giants sold a buddy and me 8 1975-76 gamers when they changed styles in 1977. They raned from the immortal Jake Brown to The Count, Bobby Murcer, and Willie Montanez. Oddly enough, the Murcer was a number changed Bruce Miller jersey. Miller's number was 29, and the 0 that replaced the 9 for Murcer's 20 was noticeably smaller than the 2! Miller's name was in the collar; however, a couple of years later it ended up with a collector of qestionable repute of the era, who yanked the NIC tag out.
I got lucky twice with the White Sox. After the 1977, their equipment guy sold me a navy blue Richie Zisk, while in 1982, after Jim Morrison was traded and while the style of the era was still new, I picked up one each of Morrison's home and road gamers via a front office contact who is now one of the mot respected GM's in MLB.
Ah, those WERE the days...
Dave M.
Chicago areaFollowing Game Used/Worn auctions and team sales: www.twitter.com/gameusedComment
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Re: Direct approach
Sometime between 1999 and 2001, I email the Oakland A's, via their website, inquiring as to the availability of any extra jerseys they had made up for a tribute honoring former players from the championship years. I stated I was a huge A's fan from the East Coast. Surprising enough, a senior staff member from their marketing dept, I believe she was a Director, emailed back and stated that she was originally from the East Coast (MA) as well and would see what she could find out for me. A few days later she emailed me back and provided me a name and number of another A's official. I called but was only able to leave a message. This was another person in the A's marketing dept. This person did call me back, however he was only able to leave me a message. Eventually we started email exchanges and he advised that he may have a couple extra jerseys and wanted to know my size and address. I provided all, however nothing ever came my way. After a couple of weeks, I emailed him back, only to see that his email address was no longer valid. I tried calling this individual and just got a recording that the line was no longer in service. I subsequently emailed the Director woman and within a day or two she replied that she was sorry and that the guy I was talking to had since left the organization. She said she would look into the jerseys and get back to me, however I never heard back from her.
Although I never ended up getting anything, I was surprised at how responsive and engaging the folks were from the A's. They could have just easily blown me off early on. Either they were sincere in attempting get me a jersey or they were just doing the courtesy PR thing. As you can image, I was pretty excited during all the communications. I did end up getting a TBTC jersey several years later, but it was not through the A's.Comment
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Re: Direct approach
Im very tempted to call the NFL teams in the next month or so and see what happens when I enquire about purchasing game used equipment from them. If I do, I will post what I come up with.Ryan
NFL game used collectorComment
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