November 10 2005 at 6:18 AM
Mike H (Login mjkm90)
I'm considering a membership with MEARS. Can anyone provide feedback regarding the site? My main interest is in the articles and the ability to brouse photo collections. Are there any hidden fees other than for authentication? Are there many photographs of baseball items? For someone NOT into collecting high end game used equipment is it worth the money?


Joe
(Login vintagesportscollector)
RE: Mears
November 10 2005, 3:30 PM

Mike- I joined MEARS, and as you know I do not collect high end game used equipment, or any GU equipment for that matter. I can't quite say I have gotten my $40 out of it yet. That's not really a knock against MEARS, just that my interests focus on early 1900s stuff, so not much there for me.

The Bat Label Index is great and the Uniform Taggging is very good. I knew a lot about labels and tags before but still learned a couple things from these tools. The articles are good too, even if not in my interest area.

The Collectors Museum is so far a disappointement. There has been one collection profiled so far, the Duke Hott collection. The Duke collection is amazing, even if you don't collect Football, and MEARS has provided literally hundreds of photos. But this is the only collection shown so far. As of yet there are no photographs of baseball items, outside of those few included in articles.

They soon will be showing the Marshall Fogel bat collection, so I look forward to that.

I'd like see many many more collections, there is so much they can do here, but it seems they are holding back and reserving the museum for the absolute cream of crop.

If you spend the $40 I think you'll have no remorse, but if you don't you won't lose any sleep about what you're missing.

Hope my opinion helps.
-Joe



Mike H
(Login mjkm90)
Re: RE: Mears
November 10 2005, 3:47 PM

Thanks Joe. That is what I expected to hear. We should talk to Carlton Hendricks about doing more collection features on his 100% free site.

http://www.sportsantiques101.com/


Kevin Kasper
(Login ghostkid)
Re: RE: Mears
November 10 2005, 10:31 PM

Mike,

I collect vintage game used bats and have found the MEARS website to be a fantastic resource. For those readers who collect game used equipment, I highly recommend spending the $40!!! The articles are very informative, but I do agree that the Collector Museum is a disappointment thus far. That said, the folks at MEARS seem to be adding to and improving their site regularly, and I'm very much looking forward to seing what coming next.

Kevin Kasper