I will NEVER buy from American Memorabilia after seeing this...

[CollectGU]

Re: I will NEVER buy from American Memorabilia after seeing this...

Dave,

Below is a quote by Rob Steinmetz (from the original thread about your Ripken glove: http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_f...ead.php?t=8394). I'm trying to balance Rob's statements in that thread and your statement here that "no Rawlings employee has stated that the glove had the wrong lining as was reported here earlier."

Any help?

Thanks,

Reid

Hi Reid,

I am stating that incorrect information was presented and that no Rawlings employee ever confirmed or validated the theory that there was something wrong with the lining in the glove.

Regards,
Dave

[sportscentury]

Re: I will NEVER buy from American Memorabilia after seeing this...

Hi Reid,

I am stating that incorrect information was presented and that no Rawlings employee ever confirmed or validated the theory that there was something wrong with the lining in the glove.

Regards,
Dave

Dave,

Thanks. In that case, I share your confusion as to what (if anything) is wrong with the glove.

Reid

[RobSteinmetz]

Re: I will NEVER buy from American Memorabilia after seeing this...

Reid,

With regard to the information shared about the lining of the Ripken glove, my information was obtained through Dennis Esken (and shared with his permission in this forum). As most know, Denny is widely regarded as the world's foremost authority on game used gloves.

I spoke with Denny again tonight to get his permission to make this follow-up post, and he stands behind the facts presented. According to Denny, he also shared this information with Bob Clevenhagen at Rawlings. To my knowledge, neither Denny nor Bob have authenticated the glove.

Best,

[sportscentury]

Re: I will NEVER buy from American Memorabilia after seeing this...

Rob,

Thank you for this information (and thanks to Denny, as well). Sounds like a case of "he said, she said" (or "he said, he did not say," as the case may be). Like you, Rob, I have great respect for Denny's knowledge and integrity.

Again, thank you.

Best,
Reid

[richpick]

Re: I will NEVER buy from American Memorabilia after seeing this...

I must admit that I owned a 1985 Home Red Sox Roger Clemens Gamer Jersey and once I did slip it on. But in my defense I did wear a t-shirt and all I did was stand there. I agree to me what American Memoabilia is doing is just poor business sense. Collectors are very particular and would like to assume that a jersey goes from a player straight to the collector.

[worldchamps]

Re: I will NEVER buy from American Memorabilia after seeing this...

My problem with this is, what if I really wanted one of those jerseys, and I bought it, would the image of some model wearing it be stuck in my mind?

Maybe the model's name is Gaylord Perry and this is a photomatch to show it was "photo-shoot" worn.

[kneerat]

Re: I will NEVER buy from American Memorabilia after seeing this...

This is an interesting one... As some of you know, I am a big Packers memorabilia buyer and seller. I honestly can say, if this model was wearing a game-worn Max McGee or Jim Taylor jersey I would still bid as high as I could. The fact that she was wearing it would not affect my bidding at all.
Just my take.

[sportscentury]

Re: I will NEVER buy from American Memorabilia after seeing this...

This is an interesting one... As some of you know, I am a big Packers memorabilia buyer and seller. I honestly can say, if this model was wearing a game-worn Max McGee or Jim Taylor jersey I would still bid as high as I could. The fact that she was wearing it would not affect my bidding at all.
Just my take.

Chris,

Please don't take this the wrong way, but how much advertising does American Memorabilia do with your magazine (Sports Collectors Digest)? I subscribed to SCD for many years, but cancelled my subscription because it was frustrating to see nothing but incredibly positive stories about your advertisers, even when some of them were the centerpieces of great controversy and questionable activities. I'm not trying to be confrontational (I have great respect for many of the guys who work for SCD), but I have to call it as I see it, particularly since this new AMI marketing scheme is such a complete disaster.

Best,
Reid

[kneerat]

Re: I will NEVER buy from American Memorabilia after seeing this...

Reid,
Trust me... This has nothing to do with any of that. Also, AMI doesn't advertise as much as they used to. I think toward the end of last year they started distributing and printing their own catalogs... We no longer do that for them.
I bid in many auctions and I think that anyone who knows me will tell you that I would bid on any big Packers item whether it was worn by a mannequin, model or anything else. I am not going to say that I think the model idea will help sell an item, but it doesn't really bother me.

I am sorry to hear you let your subscription run out for those reasons.
We have been adding new features in our magazine, even including a column from gameusedforum.com's Eric Stangel.
Troy Kinunen and Dave Bushing have also contributed this year and other freelancers such as Joe Phillips and Kevin Glew have added some nice game-used memorabilia stories as of late. If you want to continue the discussion about SCD, you may want to send me a private email, call or start a new thread about this, as I wouldn't want to run the risk of hijacking this current topic.
Thanks.

[sportscentury]

Re: I will NEVER buy from American Memorabilia after seeing this...

Reid,
Trust me... This has nothing to do with any of that. Also, AMI doesn't advertise as much as they used to. I think toward the end of last year they started distributing and printing their own catalogs... We no longer do that for them.
I bid in many auctions and I think that anyone who knows me will tell you that I would bid on any big Packers item whether it was worn by a mannequin, model or anything else. I am not going to say that I think the model idea will help sell an item, but it doesn't really bother me.

I am sorry to hear you let your subscription run out for those reasons.
We have been adding new features in our magazine, even including a column from gameusedforum.com's Eric Stangel.
Troy Kinunen and Dave Bushing have also contributed this year and other freelancers such as Joe Phillips and Kevin Glew have added some nice game-used memorabilia stories as of late. If you want to continue the discussion about SCD, you may want to send me a private email, call or start a new thread about this, as I wouldn't want to run the risk of hijacking this current topic.
Thanks.

Chris,

Fair enough. Thanks for your response. As an aside, I really miss the articles that Michael Montbriand used to write in SCD about game used bats ... those were the days (Dave Grob's uniform articles were always informative, as well).

Best,
Reid

[both-teams-played-hard]

Re: I will NEVER buy from American Memorabilia after seeing this...

As some of you know, I am a big Packers memorabilia buyer and seller.

Did you recently consign a large group of Packers jerseys that were sold by a company through one of eBay's "live" auctions? There were some really nice Packers jerseys!

[kneerat]

Re: I will NEVER buy from American Memorabilia after seeing this...

No... I knew the person who consigned them though. He is from the Green Bay area. I bought some of the nameplates he had and some other pieces from that same collection.
Probably one of the best Packers game-used finds of my lifetime.

[kingjammy24]

Re: I will NEVER buy from American Memorabilia after seeing this...

didn't the banning of eric, rob, and chris teach any of you anything? will victor be forced to ban every single one of you ingrates before you finally learn your place? if you guys still want to have the privilige of giving your business to AMI, you all ought to pipe down if you know whats good for you.

re: ami's catalog.
i guess i'm the only one who found it funny in that sort of "my 4 yr old made me a breakfast of cereal with ketchup" kind of way. sure it was amateurish but not everyone can be a marketing pro or have good taste.

granted, when i first saw the lolich jersey in some sort of pseudo-calvin klein ad, i didn't find it so comical. it was a little sad to see such a piece being treated like nothing more than a wet tshirt in a hooters ad. i was confused about the intent of the ad. was i supposed to get whipped into a lusty frenzy and bid even more than i normally would? was victor trying to tap into the masses of game-used collectors who enjoy pictures of sweaty, young, shirtless men? in the future, can we look forward to an amazing gehrig game-used bat literally being straddled by some buxom young woman? honestly, i'm not being facetious in the least here. it's one of the most bizarre, misguided pieces of advertising i've ever seen.

a collector putting on a jersey for a few minutes, as we've all done, isn't close to the same thing. i wonder if the consigners consented to having their pieces treated and displayed in such a way. maybe i mollycoddle my pieces but i prefer them not to be subjected to any unnecessary manhandling. key word being unnecessary. if you dont need to subject a piece to sunlight, oils and dirt from peoples hands, further the loosening of the buttons, etc why would you? the lolich isn't exactly a common or new jersey so why subject it to any more stress than necessary? just to produce some ridiculous, ineffective and somewhat offensive ad?

"I’d be interested to know why Kieta needs to be featured in these catalogs in belly shirts and including past cover shots of her from 1980’s playboy covers? I understand she was a model in the 1980’s, but this is 2007."

howard, i don't know the answer to your question but at least we now know what happened to baby jane.

my sincere sympathies go out to dave o'brien who apparently is faced with the unenviable task of editing phrases like "i like to be swooned". reminds me of http://www.engrish.com/recent.php .

i see the 100% team or tracking system or whatever it is added ron fukushima. along with his team contacts and extensive knowledge, ron also brings some great expertise in shill bidding.

rudy.

[lund6771]

Re: I will NEVER buy from American Memorabilia after seeing this...

Hi Rudy...

How do you know that Ron Fukushima has been shill bidding?...

[Eric]

Re: I will NEVER buy from American Memorabilia after seeing this...

Here is his apology from the old game used forum

http://www.network54.com/Forum/379976/message/1120867150/