Dave Miedema, Grey Flannel, North Shore Sports

[hblakewolf]

Joel-
I could not have said it better, myself.

I have known Dave since 1982, and met him several times at various shows. Granted, he may not be the best dressed in the dance, however, he is the type of human being that would give you his last two cents or drive 5 hours to help you. He is a very, very good man.

Dave also has had his share of health problems, including a kidney replacement.

As you noted, between his various health issues and personal life, he may have just put too much trust into others during a very, very difficult time.

Should he have been more careful? YES.

What's more interesting is the fact that he received such bad press and was removed from his writing responsibilities at SCD, based on what solid facts? I have read the above story and related pieces, however, what was ever proven and what was ever done to Dave? As far as I'm aware, little if any proof ever surfaced relating to Dave INTENTIONALLY trying to cheat or deceive anyone.

Howard Wolf
hblakewolf@patmedia.net

[trsent]

What's more interesting is the fact that he received such bad press and was removed from his writing responsibilities at SCD, based on what solid facts? I have read the above story and related pieces, however, what was ever proven and what was ever done to Dave? As far as I'm aware, little if any proof ever surfaced relating to Dave INTENTIONALLY trying to cheat or deceive anyone.

Howard, I do not believe Dave was ever convicted of any fraud.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

[weimerskirch]

Joel,

You are correct. Dave was never convicted of a crime involving his participation in authorizing fake autographs. I spoke to officials at EBAY and based on the complaints and information they received about Dave they decided to place Dave on the "banned authenticators" list. EBAY also just does not place people in this category on a whim. They are very professional and put a lot of time and effort into their investigations. They know people's reputations as well as businesses may be on the line. Secondly, they have to have a solid process in place or they would continually open themselves up for litigation.

I have never met Dave, but I do know in my years of collecting Oakland A's jerseys he has completely misdiagnosed numerous A's jerseys. The last noted Miedema mistake was on a jersey I purchased last year from a collector in Texas. The jersey was a white 1974 Reggie Jackson which I paid $5,000.00. When the package arrived I noticed right away that the jersey was a fake. The number "9" was way too large and the font in "JACKSON" was inconsistent with jerseys from 1972 to 1976. I called Troy at MEARS and he agreed to look at the jersey and the Miedema LOA. Troy and Dave both looked at the jersey and quickly agreed that it was a total fake. I commend Troy for doing this work for gratis and he even agreed to work out a deal where I could recoup my investment. Fortunately for me, the seller agreed with the MEARS assessment and sold the jersey to me for a much reduced price. I feel very sorry for the previous owner as he paid almost $5K for the jersey based on the Miedema letter and he was not able to recoup his losses.

I asked Troy why they have Dave on the MEARS staff with his checkered past. Troy explained that Dave works only as a cataloger and is not assigned to authenticate any jerseys. Troy also asked that we give Dave a second chance as MEARS has done. Troy is also working with EBAY to get Dave's name off the list of "banned authenticators".

I agree with Troy and we should all give Dave a second chance. After all he was never convicted of a crime and we in this society give many convicted felons a second chance.

Finally I do not agree with the way this thread was initially posted. Rudi brings up some great topics and works hard to assist others on this website, but he missed the beat on this one. For one, just throwing the old article on the thread and saying nothing about it confuses readers. If Rudi would have made a statement about the article either pro or con he would have opened up possibly a great topic for conversation. In this case, it only confused readers and in some instances we unjustifiably hammer on Dave. Nothing against Rudi as I believe he is an asset to this website and hopefully he will not take my posting any other way then sincere.

If you have any other questions or concerns please feel free to call me on the cell. 313.354.3904

Sincerely,

Mark Weimerskirch
Maumee, Ohio

[trsent]

Mark, great post.

I hate to say it, but I understand why Dave's LOA are not allowed on eBay. Too many were written, too many were available blank for people to list whatever they want on them, etc.

As for the Reggie jersey, I should have reclassified my comments. Dave was one of the best authenticators before there was an internet. Back in the 1980s we could take any baseball jersey to Dave and he would know immediately if it was genuine or not. He knew so much about the tags, Rudy (not spelled with an "I") would have been jealous. He knew lettering, fonts, everything.

He was a database that was amazing.

Time took his toll, and those who know him personally feel pain over what happened because most of us believe we are not discussing dishonest man.

Just a man who made bad decisions based on trust of his surroundings.

[kingjammy24]

Hi Mark,

Without rehashing things I've already said regarding why I chose to post the article, I'd like to address some of the unique and specific issues you had with my posting it.

I posted it as a piece of "news" (albeit 6 yrs old) that I ran into that I thought others unfamiliar with the incident might find interesting. I didn't feel that I could add anything to the article because I was completely unfamiliar with the incident and completely unfamiliar with Miedema. Saying anything, bad or good, would've just been idiotic on my part given my complete lack of experience and knowledge with the incident and Miedema. The only possible thing I could've said with any fairness and intelligence was "maybe this had something to do with Miedema being banned by Ebay". Not exactly insightful.

I simply found a news article and passed it along for others to read. I didn't intend to provoke a discussion. I genuinely feel people here can discuss things and form opinions whether I give my 2 cents or not. When you read a newspaper, every article isn't accompanied by a corresponding editorial. It's just a piece of news. That's it. Read it, form an opinion, move on.

So far though, you know what I've found most interesting? Of all the things mentioned in that article, the overwhelming majority response has been to address Dave Miedema who actually comprises a very small part of the entire article. No comments whatsoever about Grey Flannel.

At any rate, I still don't feel that I should've done anything differently. Unless it becomes against the "rules", I still see value in simply posting informational news articles (no different than Eric posting about a FanFest or Suave posting about an autograph signing) without any accompanying editorial from myself. As such, I'll continue to post news articles in the same way in the future. For those confused about such postings and in dire need of my opinion on them, email me and I'll give you my 2 bits.

Rudy.

[trsent]

Here is an interesting positive post about Dave Miedema.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/426247/message/1134004730/Dave+Miedema+on+ESPN.COM

The link in the post you have to pay to see the whole article, but Dave Grob did post the part about Dave Miedema that was posted in the espn.com article.

[Patrick002]

So, is there a follow-up on what ever happens to Steve Levine and North Shore Sports? For those who bought bad merchandise from him, were they able to recoup their losses? I remember Steve Ryan(Levine) ran a live auction during the 1996 National Convention in Anaheim.

Thanks Rudy for posting the old news because I am sure there are newbies here that would love to know a little bit of the past.

[hblakewolf]

Forum readers-
I was told that Levine/Ryan is back in the family coin business.

Say what you want about North Shore Sports, however, they did have some great LEGIT equipment. When Ryan first opened North Shore, his Jordan equipment was rock solid and some of the best in the hobby. Only later on did he begin to have "suspect" jerseys that had tags sewn in from other commons, etc.

On a personal note, I consigned quite a bit of equipment to him, and he was bringing top dollar. Once the FBI got involved and shut him down, things really went South. When the FBI confiscated all of his contents (both personal and those from consignors), many dealers had their items held by the FBI for evidence. I had about 20 items held, and it took about a year for me to get them returned. It was the strangest situation-out of the blue, I received a phone call from our local FBI office, and was informed that my items would be personally returned to be the following day. Sure enough, a FBI officer appeared at my home with 3 boxes of equipment. I signed a release, took the boxes, and never saw the FBI agent or heard from the authorities again.

I did learn an important lesson in the uniform/equipment business, however. When an auction house is late in paying consignors or begins to develop a bad reputation-RUN. I have seen it first hand, and will NEVER put myself in that situation again. Neither should you.

Howard Wolf
hblakewolf@patmedia.net

[Patrick002]

Say what you want about North Shore Sports, however, they did have some great LEGIT equipment. When Ryan first opened North Shore, his Jordan equipment was rock solid and some of the best in the hobby. Only later on did he begin to have "suspect" jerseys that had tags sewn in from other commons, etc.

Howard Wolf
hblakewolf@patmedia.net

Howard,

You mentioned that he had some rock solidt Jordan equipment early on. Do you have a rough timeline of when his stuff became suspectible?

[ChrisCavalier]

Hello Everyone-

For those of us who were surprised to see Dave Miedema's name on the eBay list (with the misspelling and all), I was pleased to see Mr. Miedema post something on the MEARS site which provides his perspective regarding the eBay situation. I think it would be helpful for everyone to read it. While I don't know Mr. Miedema personally, and know absolutely nothing about his relations with North Shore Sports, I, for one, very much appreciated Mr. Miedema taking the time to share his side of the story.

Here is a link to the message on the MEARS site. Hopefully, as was the reason I think the question was even asked, this can help those unfamiliar with the situation gain a better understanding. I hope those at eBay have the chance to read it as well:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/42624...m+Dave+Miedema

Sincerely,
Christopher Cavalier
CEO - Game Used Universe