Modern Backlash?

[Birdbats]

Eric,

Personally, I won't bid on most new stuff (well, jerseys) just because I assume it's probably fake. I know that's cynical, but it's just too easy for some people to doctor these things. I've seen too many bad jerseys of current players, stars especially.

I'm also much less trusting of the auctioneers and authentication services. The more I learn about bats and jerseys, the less they seem to know. Stuff that I once would have purchased in good faith now gets ignored because I see things that just don't look right.

There was a time when I might have looked at a 2004 Pujols world series jersey and decided I was going to have it at any cost. Now I look at it and ask, "If they only played two home games, and the Cardinals are extremely stingy releasing Pujols items, and Pujols keeps many items for himself to auction through his foundation, and there is no letter from the Cardinals or the PFF, and Pujols switched to size 50 (not 48) in late 2005 -- what are the odds of this being legit?"

I'm sure supply and demand has something to do with it. The whole issue of cheating (steroids) also affects values of some players in particular. But for me, I'm overly cautious when it comes to current stars because dishonest people have ruined it for me.

On the other hand, I have no problem paying good prices for items that come directly from the team.

Jeff
http://www.birdbats.com

[mr.miracle]

Mussina just won his 230th career game last night. He has however never won a Cy Young, and never won 20 games in a season. If he is to make the HOF he will need 300 wins period. See Bert Blyleven, Jack Morris, and a whole host of other guys with 250-290 wins that just are not getting an HOF snif. Mussina is 37 so he would need to average about 17 wins a season over the next 4 to get in. Can he do it? If Jamie Moyer can get people out at age 43 Mussina should be able to.