It's OK to sell stuff

[Yankwood]

Has anyone noticed how much Kirby Puckett stuff came out on Ebay the day he died? Now, I'm not taking anybody's right to make a few bucks away, but why does everyone put little notations underneath the item like,"We love you Kirby", or "We're gonna miss you, Kirby". I'd have more respect if they wrote, "Too bad you had to die Kirby, but as long as you did, I might as well try and capitalize on it". Just a thought. Sorry.

[bat_master]

I agree 100%. It wouldn't be so bad either if some of the listings didn't say things like:"WE LOVE YOU KIRBY AND WE WILL MISS YOU VERY MUCH!". What? You love him so much you decide to sell as many items of his you have a day after he died? I'll be honest, I thought about heading to Shinders stores here in the Twin Cities and buying up as many Puckett RCs as I could find and listing them. In the end, I just couldn't do it.

I guess what really doesn't make sense to me is when a player dies all of a sudden their items skyrocket in value for awhile. Shouldn't that player have been just as desireable alive? If you weren't collecting that player when he was alive then why start now?

I think this trait speaks volumes about who we are. Seems like as a society as a whole we ought to pay much more attention and appreciate past stars (and regular people, family, etc.) while they are here instead of turning them into a money-making opportunity when they pass. Far too often we take for granted that we will always have another day, another hour, or another at bat.

Tim Byington

[trsent]

I hate to admit it, but when I was in the authenticated autograph market I capitalized on a few unfortunate occasions.

The two I remember most were when Wilt Chamberlain passed, I got a phone call waking me up telling me that a member of my staff had just bought the last 50 UDA Wilt autographed jerseys in stock for the company. The markup was strong, and I didn't feel guilty - It was still business.

Now, I did feel guilty when my hero Walter Payton passed away, but I knew he had been ill and a few weeks before he passed I had just bought UDA's remaining stock of autographed cards (for about $35.00 each) which was about 600 cards. I also had placed a few large orders with Steiner for his jerseys and photos. I wasn't counting on Walter's passing, but he was the most popular player in Chicago Bears history and his autographed memorabilia sold very well in my Chicago-land stores.

Needless to say, the profit was strong on both occasions.

Now, when the great Owen Hart passed from a tragic fall in Kansas City, MO years ago, I had a few autographed 8x10s in stock. I sold these on eBay and I gave 80% of the final bid price to The Owen Hart Foundation, which I felt was a solid gesture as I had just seen The Nugget wrestle his last match the night before in Chicago and I had talked to him backstage that night.

Life isn't fair, and business isn't fair but this week we learned there is crying in baseball, I'm sorry to say Tom Hanks, it isn't so.

[geoff]

I remember watching the ppv where owen was the Blue Blazer and fell.The cameras turned before you could anything.Just thought i would chime in about a sport i love also.Geoff

[byergo]

Joel, that's over $20,000 of Walter Payton cards! You must have been running a fairly large operation. Are you still in the biz?

[trsent]

Joel, that's over $20,000 of Walter Payton cards! You must have been running a fairly large operation. Are you still in the biz?

I do not have retail stores anymore and I left the authenticated autograph market when it was on a downward price spoon.

I owned two 500 square foot retail stores, but one of them was mainly just a small mail order operation. The Steiner deal was for more money than the UDA deal if I remember correctly.