OT: Player you regret collecting

[legaleagle92481]

Mark McGwire $600 autographed baseball when he did his first Steiner signing.

[sox83cubs84]

Big truck
Just for clarity's sake, you mean that you used to have 100 Ben McDonald cards, not 100 kids. Right?

I'd presume he meant 100 Ben McDonald cards. After all, he's Big Truck, not Shawn Kemp .

Dave M.
Chicago area

[cohibasmoker]

Pete Rose.

I got 99.9% of my Rose stuff from Paul Jensen. At one time I had at least eight jerseys, Mizuno bats, spikes, caps and other signed items. Once Pete did what he did, I sold almost all of the items I collected. With the exception of a few signed Sports Illustrated pieces (which are lying under a bed in our spare bedroom), and Reds warm-up for 1985, it's all gone.

Jim

flaa1a@comcast.net

[suicide_squeeze]

Eric Gagne.

Being a Dodger fan, he was hot stuff during the "streak". 84 straight spanning over three seasons.....are you kidding?.....that was legendary.


Until his name surfaced in the steroid tabloids. Now, I have three perfectly signed balls of his, each with a different inscription ("Game Over!"....."84 straight"......"C Y '04"), a game used 2004 jersey, signed to perfection with inscriptions, and his black 2004 Easton game used glove.

I just wish I could get my money out of them. He's garbage.....a disgrace to the game IMO. But there are still a few fans out there, and the steroid "era" hasn't played out yet, so we'll see. He may eventually develope a whole new following after everyone comes to the realization his record will never in a MILLION years be approached by any mortal soul....

[godwulf]

Not one player in particular, on whom I've ever spent a huge amount of money and now regret it, but a whole bunch of players on whom I've, cumulatively, spent a huge amount of money, and now regret it.

In the early years of my collecting, my focus was (as it still is) the Diamondbacks...but being a young team, many of its players had already been on one or more other teams in previous years...so I began collecting jerseys and bats of DBacks players from those other teams. And I sort of overdid it.

With some of my all-time favorite players, it's okay - the Matt Williams stuff from SF and Cleveland, the Luis Gonzalez stuff from the Cubs, Detroit, LA, etc, the Greg Colbrunn and David Dellucci and Mike Morgan bats and jerseys from everywhere...those I'll keep. But I bought "other team" bats and jerseys from players who were only with the team for a very short time, or who were guys I never really even liked that much. Richie Sexson, Troy Glaus, Lenny Harris, Jose Cruz, Jr., and quite a few others come to mind.

In most cases, it's nothing they really did that soured me on having their stuff - it's just that the stuff really doesn't mean all that much to me anymore because their connection with the team was so transitory, and I find it increasingly annoying having a lot of it around.

I just remembered a birthday present I got from my sister several years ago. She bought it right after Wally Backman was named the new DBacks skipper - his manager's jersey from the 2002 Southern League Champion Birmingham Barons. Long before my birthday, after Backman had been canned, my sister let me know that my present, when I opened it, might seem "a little odd"...but, after all, she couldn't very well return it.

[emann]

I just was corresponding with a collector who collected nomar garciaparra for the longest time and now regrets it. say it was a complete waste of time looking back.

Not to derail the thread, but I'd be interested in a Nomar bat if that collector is selling them off.

[coxfan]

I regret nobody, since even those with frustrated expectations are still part of baseball history. My only regret would be if I thought an item was not authentic, but that hasn't occured yet with me. Of course, it helps to keep a limited buying budget, to buy mainly MLB-authenticated g-u items directly from teams, and to rely on getting only in-person autographs, as I do.

[JETEFAN]

Arod, Bonds, etc. all the Riod Crew boys.....

[dcgreg25]

godwulf, if you would consider moving any of your Matt Williams Indians items I would be very interested. Also, any other Indians jerseys or bats (Sexson, etc) you have that you might sell or trade, let me know. Thanks!

As far as players I regret, I have a couple Sosa items and a Vick signed Eagles jersey...neither is a player central to my collection but all purchases I now regret.

[cjclong]

I never collected any of his game stuff, but I had a lot of magazines I saved of OJ Simpson when he was at USC. I remember a long run he made against UCLA. I really liked him. All that is now totally spoiled.