November Pickups

[ndevlin]

Excellent looking Sweeney, Wes.

[bat_master]

Excellent looking Sweeney, Wes.

Agreed, nice jersey.

Also, I was wondering something. Nate, either you or Wes (or anyone else) would you happen to know if Mike Sweeney was big on keeping his equipment? Doesn't appear to be all that much of his stuff available on the secondary market. Seems like the last bat of his I saw for sale (ebay possibly) was used by another player. Does Sweeney collect? Or is he one of those guys that his stuff ends up in private collections and then doesn't move except between collectors?

As an aside, I recall going to a Royals/Twins game at the dome, probably between 2002 and 2005. There was one heckler in particular that kept on calling out repeatedly "SWEENEY'S A WEENIE" as loud as possible. He was on 1st base side too, same section as where I was sitting.

[ndevlin]

Agreed, nice jersey.

Also, I was wondering something. Nate, either you or Wes (or anyone else) would you happen to know if Mike Sweeney was big on keeping his equipment? Doesn't appear to be all that much of his stuff available on the secondary market. Seems like the last bat of his I saw for sale (ebay possibly) was used by another player. Does Sweeney collect? Or is he one of those guys that his stuff ends up in private collections and then doesn't move except between collectors?

As an aside, I recall going to a Royals/Twins game at the dome, probably between 2002 and 2005. There was one heckler in particular that kept on calling out repeatedly "SWEENEY'S A WEENIE" as loud as possible. He was on 1st base side too, same section as where I was sitting.

I'm not really sure if Sweeney collects items or hoards his own, perhaps Wes might have a better idea than I. But I do know that Sweeney is probably one of the favorite Royal amongst collectors(behind Brett and maybe Jackson), so it wouldn't surprise me one bit if a lot of his bats and jerseys are in KC collections.

[CampWest]

Agreed, nice jersey.

Also, I was wondering something. Nate, either you or Wes (or anyone else) would you happen to know if Mike Sweeney was big on keeping his equipment? Doesn't appear to be all that much of his stuff available on the secondary market. Seems like the last bat of his I saw for sale (ebay possibly) was used by another player. Does Sweeney collect? Or is he one of those guys that his stuff ends up in private collections and then doesn't move except between collectors?

Good question. If I see him again, I'll try to remember to ask him. I think he did give a lot of his best stuff to his father. I was shocked when I decided to collect Sweeney stuff, that I came across surprisingly little of it. I probably searched for a year or two before I found a bat. Then another 2 years before I found a second bat. I've acquired 3 jerseys over the past 5 years (ironically two 2001 USA flag - home and road). And really I haven't seen much that I've passed on.

I know the last bat on ebay that you reference, it was used by Scott Leius. I've seen a couple with no use or inconsistent use or brands.

I'd love to find a game used mitt, but no luck as of yet.

The one thing I understand about Sweeney's game used stuff is that he did donate a lot of items to churches and youth groups to be sold for fundraisers. I think this put a lot of his stuff in the hands of people who are not really game used collectors. A lot of the items were sold at the churches he attended and youth groups he worked with regularly and those people likely feel a more sentimental attachment which may explain why it stays off the market.

Anyhow, collecting Sweeney stuff requires patience and it sure does seem like a long wait between quality items for a guy who played as many seasons as he did.

The jerseys I have will probably not be on the market in the next 20 years, so I'm not going to be helping matters much.

[salukidave]

Picked up a couple of bats -- a 1969-70 Luis Aparicio and a 2014 Jose Abreu. Both are uncracked. The Abreu rookie bat has hit mom's name on it.

[64SHEA]

Picked up 1st base from the St. John's Georgetown exhibition game which was the first event at Citi Field.

[GameUsedGR61]

NASCAR SPRINT CUP ALEX BOWMAN DOOR PANEL MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY JUNE 12-13 2015

[seanbaseball]

Ozzie Smith 1995 BP jersey