What sparked your game used interest?

[geoff]

Loving my Team The Baltimore Orioles And wanting to get some of The Players Bats And Etc.Then went to Players I like.

geof631@yahoo.com


Always on The Lookout for Orioles Items.

Thanks
Geoff

[CampWest]

I collected baseball cards for years... I'm pretty much out of that except for the occassional vintage rookie card, current player autographed rookie card, and superstar/HOF auto. I still love collecting sports memorabilia though and game used items are perfect for me.

I am sort of mildly OCD when it comes to certain aspects of my personal life and my un-glorious sports career, somewhat superstitious in following a pattern on game day, and fascinated by the smallest details that go in to making the whole so much greater than its parts (its why we love following the micro-details of individual soldiers in Band of Brothers more than the macro-strategy of an Eisenhower - the fascination is in the details and the personal trials). Game used bats, hats, jerseys,etc are perfect for all of that. All the quirks of the players come out in how much and what type of pine tar/moto stick, grip tape, bat length, weight, wood species, manufacturer, bat color, grain count, knob markings, etc.

I think GU collecting displays much better than cards, I think its a more tangible connection to the game and its history than cards. And I guess to really simplify it, I'd rather spend my money on 34" slabs of wood than 2x3" slabs of cardboard.

[godwulf]

My whole life I'd never really been much of a sports fan, and especially with moving around in the Navy for over twenty years, I never thought in terms of having a "home town team" to be a fan of. Baseball is the only sport that I had ever had the slightest interest in (or understood), but even that interest was intermittent and low-grade.

I retired to Phoenix in '93, and in '95 we got an MLB franchise; the Diamondbacks started playing in '98, and it seemed very natural (and also very exciting) to be getting in on the ground floor of this new team, going to the games, collecting whatever I could get ahold of, and, really for the first time in my life, being a fan. Baseball - I caught it bad.

I discovered eBay at about the same time, and was amazed, one night, to discover an actual game-used bat for sale. I'd never dreamed that you could actually buy something like that. It was a Karim Garcia DBacks bat, and I don't even recall or have a record of what I paid for it - probably in the 40-50 dollar range.

Starting in '99, I began buying gamers from a media guy who knew some of the bat boys - that was before the Team Shop began selling game-used and inflating everyone's prices. I was buying pretty much every bat that he could get his hands on, and continuing to buy on eBay as well.

[metsbats]

For me it was a natural progression. I started like a lot of folks collecting baseball cards, then went on to autographs attending card shows and standing in line to get Mickey, Joe D, Ted Williams, and countless of other HOFer autographs. After the Mick died in 1995 and the National Pastime and other NY show promoters went with him, game used was the next logical step.

[metsbats]

I'd love to answer this, but my memory is a little hazy when it comes to events that happened during the Revolutionary War.

Dave M.
Chicago area

Dave

I was a regular reader of your column in SCD ("Shirt off their backs")

That would date me to the Industrial Revolution I guess

[karamaxjoe]

My father in law was cleaning out his attic and gave me four Sox flannels from the 40's. I picked up my SCD and found Dave Miedema's column and gave him a call. I then met Dave in the city and he told me the flannels were the the real thing and worth about a grand each. I sold the cards a few months later and the rest is history.

Hey Dave - whatever happened to all your "Shirt off my back" columns? All those articles might have made for a nice little reference book. Did SCD lock them up and throw away the key?

[project 4]

negativity of baseball cards in 1994-1995. the parallel cards (gold version, artist proofs. silver version, etc.), the inserts, the continuous need to update the player checklist with new offering monthly, the outrageous prices,

New here. Been reading some of the posts and realize I have some things in common in regards to how collecting memorabilia started. Use to collect baseball in the 90's, then football in the 2000's. All the variations were killing me as I had gotten obsessed with refreshing ebay to find a new card. This stuff is obviously more rare and spending time looking for it vs. cards won't be so bad.

I collected baseball cards for years... I'm pretty much out of that except for the occassional vintage rookie card, current player autographed rookie card, and superstar/HOF auto. I still love collecting sports memorabilia though and game used items are perfect for me.


I think GU collecting displays much better than cards, I think its a more tangible connection to the game and its history than cards. And I guess to really simplify it, I'd rather spend my money on 34" slabs of wood than 2x3" slabs of cardboard.

Absolutely agree with this. I thought about how I can't really show off cards to friends but can create a museum with gamers. Still have my cards although I doubt I'll be getting much more. I think this alternative is perfect for me as well.

[gadsden86]

I got into them a little while ago but couldnt afford them. I have always been a card guy and always thought why get a piece of the jersey whe you can have the entire jersey/shoe/helmet/ glove.

So i just got my 1st jersey and want another already.

[UTeric3232]

I started collecting autographs of Texas Longhorns players, and I was hooked on that. 10 years later, my autograph collection is pretty much complete. There is nothing I want that I dont have.

So its only natural for a collector to move on to bigger and better things....what else...game used items.

[jppopma]

About 20 years ago, I was working the card short circuit and getting tired of the onslaught of new items (and companies that made you buy the junk to keep preferred status).

There was this one guy that was at alot of the shows with a table to jerseys and handing out free trial subscriptions to SCD. Yup, if jerseys are crack...Dave was the dealer! I talked to Dave a little at each of the shows learning the ropes and finally picked up a couple of jerseys from him.

It was just cool as a high schooler being able to own and wear a real jersey. I learned to appreciate all of the details and differences between the gamers and retail jerseys....and was hooked.