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View Full Version : The Paul Hill Collection - My Personal Hell



soxbats
09-07-2006, 09:35 PM
OK, so rank me up there with the most obsessed of us. About 15 years ago I started collecting red sox bats. It started out innocently enough, just looking for my favorites. However, when I had collected those players that I knew, I started to make a list. Again, this was innocent enough, maybe just the 80s or some world series teams.

After collecting those (thanks to the BPH "firewood" sales) I decided to make a list and try to complete it. I made a list of every non-pitcher who had an at bat for the red sox from 1960 to the present. You can imagine the list of obscure players that I needed, every cup of coffee guy and late season call up. So for the last 10 years I have been slowly whittling this away. Many on the board have helped me in this process, probably wondering why anyone would want a Roger Lafrancois bat in the first place.

Sooo, I am down to about 28 guys out of 390. The is where the story gets tough. Those who collected in the early 90s will remeber the Paul Hill collection that was auctioned by Centerfield Collectibles. Hill was a collector who (I believe) was trying to collect something from every player who ever played in the majors. He had over 1200 game used bats that went to auction.

Well one rainy day I looked back through the Centerfield catalogs, back through the lists and lists of bats that were auctioned, actions that took place before I had MY LIST. THIS WAS A BIG MISTAKE!! Of course, many of the obscure bats from the 60s and 70s that I need (Syd O'Brien, Ray Webster, Carmen Fanzone, Bobby Heise for example) were there. I just never knew at the time that they would be my "grail" bats.

Does anyone know whatever happened to the unsold Hill invetory? Does anyone know of any collectors who have big collections of common players from the 60s and 70s that I could get a reference for (intermediary fees paid willingly!).

Finally, does anyone know how to recover from missing out on that item that you may never see again?

I look to the generosity and collecting spirit of the board to help me in this quest.

please email me at soxbats@aol.com.

Thanks!

Jeff

Ripken
09-12-2006, 03:32 PM
Jeff's quest is in the news...http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com