A question for EVERY single member of this forum

[jon_8_us]

I have been reading a lot lately about the mishandling of game used items by certain auction etc.Myself i mainly collect bats but own a jersey.I can tell you that i have tried on the jersey and i swing my bats from time to time.My question is am i the only one??I'm sure that a vast majority of you collectors out there have done the same thing.And how many of you and these items have been sold to other collectors??My point is i believe this subject is being blown way out of proportion!Granted most of us aren't photographed while doing.But i can guarantee if you have items in your collection that you have bought from other collectors that they have been handled similarly to way that most of you are "digusted" by..........
jon

[jon_8_us]

Re: A question for EVERY single member of this forum

I have been reading a lot lately about the mishandling of game used items by certain auction etc.Myself i mainly collect bats but own a jersey.I can tell you that i have tried on the jersey and i swing my bats from time to time.My question is am i the only one??I'm sure that a vast majority of you collectors out there have done the same thing.And how many of you and these items have been sold to other collectors??My point is i believe this subject is being blown way out of proportion!Granted most of us aren't photographed while doing.But i can guarantee if you have items in your collection that you have bought from other collectors that they have been handled similarly to way that most of you are "digusted" by..........
jon

make that "disgusted"

[RyanZimmerman11]

Re: A question for EVERY single member of this forum

The big difference is....and this coming from a collector, not a dealer/seller...

If I were to try on any of my GU jerseys, or take a few swings with my bats...I would disclose that information if I were to ever sell the item. That's common sense and common courtesy.


Most collectors are under the inpression that the player of said GU jersey/warm-up was the last person to ever have it on. That's what typically adds to the appeal of such an item.

None of us, certainly not me...wants some...hmm..to put this nicely...dealer who's trying his best to sell me on how great of an item this is, running around in the jersey, warm-up or whatever the item might be....right before he sells it to me.

Same goes for cleats or any other wearable piece of memorabilia.


Just my .02,
Jay

[jon_8_us]

Re: A question for EVERY single member of this forum

The big difference is....and this coming from a collector, not a dealer/seller...

If I were to try on any of my GU jerseys, or take a few swings with my bats...I would disclose that information if I were to ever sell the item. That's common sense and common courtesy.


Most collectors are under the inpression that the player of said GU jersey/warm-up was the last person to ever have it on. That's what typically adds to the appeal of such an item.

None of us, certainly not me...wants some...hmm..to put this nicely...dealer who's trying his best to sell me on how great of an item this is, running around in the jersey, warm-up or whatever the item might be....right before he sells it to me.

Same goes for cleats or any other wearable piece of memorabilia.


Just my .02,
Jay

Agreed.I believe that dealers doing this is just bad business.And as for your disclosure of an item you may have worn you would be the first!
jon

[kingjammy24]

Re: A question for EVERY single member of this forum

jon,

i've tried on some of my jerseys. by "try on", i mean put on for literally a couple of minutes. i haven't wear them around town, i haven't eaten in them, etc.

i'm a little more careful when handling my bats because i don't want even a speck of pinetar to come off. one of my bats, a joe carter, has a small red thread stuck to the pinetar. carter was known to wear batting gloves with a red-threaded back. i've done my utmost to make sure that that small red thread not be disturbed.

"My point is i believe this subject is being blown way out of proportion!Granted most of us aren't photographed while doing.But i can guarantee if you have items in your collection that you have bought from other collectors that they have been handled similarly to way that most of you are "digusted" by"

jon, you've missed one crucial point here: most of us don't do these things with other people's items. we do it with items we own. AMI did it with other peoples items and i'm guessing they didn't have permission. if i want to wear my roberto kelly jersey around the house while swinging my rickey henderson bat around like a maniac, then those are my items. i've paid for them and if they incur any damage as a result of my horseplay then it's my items that i've damaged. this is not the case when an auction house takes items belonging to consigners and plays a few rounds of whiffle ball with them. if you sent me a jersey to authenticate, how would you feel if you saw pics of me wearing it while wrestling with my friend? point is, if it's your item, then you've got the right to do what you wish. on the other hand, if someone has entrusted their item to you, then you clearly don't have this right. consigners expect that auction houses will treat their items carefully and with respect. clearly, ami didn't.

rudy.

[jboosted92]

Re: A question for EVERY single member of this forum

Agreed.I believe that dealers doing this is just bad business.And as for your disclosure of an item you may have worn you would be the first!
jon

"I turn the lights down low...and hold my bat and there bat at the same time......

bow chicky bow wow"

[RyanZimmerman11]

Re: A question for EVERY single member of this forum

Agreed.I believe that dealers doing this is just bad business.And as for your disclosure of an item you may have worn you would be the first!
jon

That's a shame, I thought there we other honest people out there Joking aside, I'm far from new in the overall hobby of sports cards and memorabilia. I've seen some lowlife actions..such as overhearing a deal at a failry large and recognizable show telling his buddy how he removes autos from mulitsigned balls so that they sell more as single signed balls....despicable.

But as I said, I am not a seller or a dealer..just a run of the mill collector. So if I ever was in a bad way and was forced to sell my item, and I had in fact tried it on, I would want the poor sap that was buying to think he was getting any more or any less than what he was truly getting.


That and I am a FIRM believer in Karma

[RyanZimmerman11]

Re: A question for EVERY single member of this forum

jon,

If i want to wear my roberto kelly jersey around the house while swinging my rickey henderson bat around like a maniac, then those are my items.

Sorry, I know this is a serious topic...but I actually laughed out loud while picturing this....it was part Risky Business/part Major League LOL

[jon_8_us]

Re: A question for EVERY single member of this forum

Sorry, I know this is a serious topic...but I actually laughed out loud while picturing this....it was part Risky Business/part Major League LOL

It can't be a serious subject because i'm not a serious enough guy .Rudy what you say is right on the money.I guess i just think of all my items being swung and/or tried on and the fact that everyone else probably does the same.These items are sold collector to collector so i guess we can expect a reasonable amount of these items to be worn/swung by others.But i must say that i also keep a very large amount of respect for my collection and am careful when i take a bat of the rack...
jon

[camarokids]

Re: A question for EVERY single member of this forum

Great stuff Jon!

I wore my Mike DiFelice game used jersey with team letter to a Devil Rays game in April and my son spilled some chocolate ice cream on it .

No problem , a little spray stuff on the spots before throwing it the washer and dried it on low . Came out beautiful . Even got the dust stains out that were there on the top shoulders from when I bought it . It all came out .

I swing my bats , put on my fielders glove , played catch with a couple of them before as well . My son put on the TBTC batting helmets I have.

I did NOT try on my Jose Guillen game used cap though .

I was NOT impressed with AMI'S Catalog . Not disgusted either though , didn't bother me . I was impressed with the short mini-skirt though . I am sure they handled the stuff with care . After all we're talking money .....

[RyanZimmerman11]

Re: A question for EVERY single member of this forum

Here's something...

I thought of this as a response to Jon saying we are all collectors..etc


Yes, I agree...collector-to-collector transactions....it should be expected that the jersey you're buying was more than likely worn/tried on.


But when buying from an auction house, any auction house, non of us should expect that their employees are running around the stock room trying stuff on, jousting with bats and God knows what else they do for kicks.


Jay

[kingjammy24]

Re: A question for EVERY single member of this forum

i'll also use common sense and caution. i'm not going to put on a size 42 jersey that i could possibly stretch out. i've only put on a couple of my jerseys and simply stood in them for a couple of minutes.

jim yackel has repeatedly made known that he has a big issue with people buying gamers and regularly wearing them. i agree with him. it's one thing if every seller admitted they had worn the jersey for years, but most don't. you see pilling on a jersey and think it's from a player when it's really from a couple years worth of some guy rolling around on his sofa. or from a couple of auction house clowns acting like 3 yr olds.

"I guess i just think of all my items being swung and/or tried on and the fact that everyone else probably does the same.These items are sold collector to collector so i guess we can expect a reasonable amount of these items to be worn/swung by others."

jon, yes but you don't do it with other people's items that you don't even own. if i worked for an auction house, and handled other peoples items, then what i do with my own items has no bearing on how i should treat theirs. you can treat your own things any way you like but when you're entrusted with someone else's items then there's only one way to do it: with the utmost of care. if i feel like acting like an idiot then i can go home and do it with my own items, right?
johnny crow and giese didn't own those items. even if they're the sort of people who love to wear their own gamers around all the time, what on earth made them think it was ok to do that with other people's items and without their consent?

rudy.

[camarokids]

Re: A question for EVERY single member of this forum

That's a shame, I thought there we other honest people out there Joking aside, I'm far from new in the overall hobby of sports cards and memorabilia. I've seen some lowlife actions..such as overhearing a deal at a failry large and recognizable show telling his buddy how he removes autos from mulitsigned balls so that they sell more as single signed balls....despicable.

There is a service that advertises in Sport Collectors Digest that will have signatures removed for a fee ....Their Moto " Turn Foul balls into Home Runs" ..and they picture a Clemente signed ball , before and after !

Coin collectors can submit their coins to a conservator service to be "cleaned" (they call it conserving a coin when they do it). Owned by one of the grading companies , that's pretty convenient ! Clean your coin yourself and they will reject it . Won't even slab your coin nor assign it a grade . They return to you in a "body bag", but you are still charged the fee . If you know about coins , one big rule is . Do NOT clean or touch the surface of the coin. Leave it in it's original condition .

That rule kind of applies to our hobby and kind of does not . You don't want to touch your signed baseballs .

But as far as the game used items , as long as you do not harm the item or alter the original surfaces, it should not matter if you have touched, swung or worn or even caught a few balls with it ....

[hiramman]

Re: A question for EVERY single member of this forum

Amen camarokids!

I've swung some of my bats, tried on and even worn one my game-used jerseys to a game(a common player of course and no ice cream was spilt on it - maybe a little beer) but that's what makes collecting fun. If you are collecting just so that your item is going to be worth big bucks in the future and you have your jerseys and bats in air-free sterilized glass sealed containers then you're missing the point of collecting.

The fun of collecting for me is showing others something special. Especially, say baseball fans that aren't collectors. They want to feel the bat in their hands because they've never seen or touched a real MLB bat. They want to feel the fabric on a game-used jersey. I'm not going to let them try the jersey on and where it around the house or out in the backyard as we play a little backyard baseball with the game-used Nolan Ryan glove, the game-used uncracked Hank Aaron bat, and the Sandy Koufax no-hitter game ball, but enjoying the hobby with others is what it is about for me.

And by the way, the "bow chicky bow wow" made me laugh out load.

[kylehess10]

Re: A question for EVERY single member of this forum

I've actually never worn or used anything in my collection. I've held some bats before as if I were in a stance but I never swung it. And I never wore any of the jerseys I own neither.