A question for EVERY single member of this forum

[jon_8_us]

I have been reading a lot lately about the mishandling of game used items by certain auction etc.Myself i mainly collect bats but own a jersey.I can tell you that i have tried on the jersey and i swing my bats from time to time.My question is am i the only one??I'm sure that a vast majority of you collectors out there have done the same thing.And how many of you and these items have been sold to other collectors??My point is i believe this subject is being blown way out of proportion!Granted most of us aren't photographed while doing.But i can guarantee if you have items in your collection that you have bought from other collectors that they have been handled similarly to way that most of you are "digusted" by..........
jon

[jon_8_us]

I have been reading a lot lately about the mishandling of game used items by certain auction etc.Myself i mainly collect bats but own a jersey.I can tell you that i have tried on the jersey and i swing my bats from time to time.My question is am i the only one??I'm sure that a vast majority of you collectors out there have done the same thing.And how many of you and these items have been sold to other collectors??My point is i believe this subject is being blown way out of proportion!Granted most of us aren't photographed while doing.But i can guarantee if you have items in your collection that you have bought from other collectors that they have been handled similarly to way that most of you are "digusted" by..........
jon

make that "disgusted"

[RyanZimmerman11]

The big difference is....and this coming from a collector, not a dealer/seller...

If I were to try on any of my GU jerseys, or take a few swings with my bats...I would disclose that information if I were to ever sell the item. That's common sense and common courtesy.


Most collectors are under the inpression that the player of said GU jersey/warm-up was the last person to ever have it on. That's what typically adds to the appeal of such an item.

None of us, certainly not me...wants some...hmm..to put this nicely...dealer who's trying his best to sell me on how great of an item this is, running around in the jersey, warm-up or whatever the item might be....right before he sells it to me.

Same goes for cleats or any other wearable piece of memorabilia.


Just my .02,
Jay

[jon_8_us]

The big difference is....and this coming from a collector, not a dealer/seller...

If I were to try on any of my GU jerseys, or take a few swings with my bats...I would disclose that information if I were to ever sell the item. That's common sense and common courtesy.


Most collectors are under the inpression that the player of said GU jersey/warm-up was the last person to ever have it on. That's what typically adds to the appeal of such an item.

None of us, certainly not me...wants some...hmm..to put this nicely...dealer who's trying his best to sell me on how great of an item this is, running around in the jersey, warm-up or whatever the item might be....right before he sells it to me.

Same goes for cleats or any other wearable piece of memorabilia.


Just my .02,
Jay

Agreed.I believe that dealers doing this is just bad business.And as for your disclosure of an item you may have worn you would be the first!
jon

[jboosted92]

Agreed.I believe that dealers doing this is just bad business.And as for your disclosure of an item you may have worn you would be the first!
jon

"I turn the lights down low...and hold my bat and there bat at the same time......

bow chicky bow wow"

[RyanZimmerman11]

Agreed.I believe that dealers doing this is just bad business.And as for your disclosure of an item you may have worn you would be the first!
jon

That's a shame, I thought there we other honest people out there Joking aside, I'm far from new in the overall hobby of sports cards and memorabilia. I've seen some lowlife actions..such as overhearing a deal at a failry large and recognizable show telling his buddy how he removes autos from mulitsigned balls so that they sell more as single signed balls....despicable.

But as I said, I am not a seller or a dealer..just a run of the mill collector. So if I ever was in a bad way and was forced to sell my item, and I had in fact tried it on, I would want the poor sap that was buying to think he was getting any more or any less than what he was truly getting.


That and I am a FIRM believer in Karma

[camarokids]

That's a shame, I thought there we other honest people out there Joking aside, I'm far from new in the overall hobby of sports cards and memorabilia. I've seen some lowlife actions..such as overhearing a deal at a failry large and recognizable show telling his buddy how he removes autos from mulitsigned balls so that they sell more as single signed balls....despicable.

There is a service that advertises in Sport Collectors Digest that will have signatures removed for a fee ....Their Moto " Turn Foul balls into Home Runs" ..and they picture a Clemente signed ball , before and after !

Coin collectors can submit their coins to a conservator service to be "cleaned" (they call it conserving a coin when they do it). Owned by one of the grading companies , that's pretty convenient ! Clean your coin yourself and they will reject it . Won't even slab your coin nor assign it a grade . They return to you in a "body bag", but you are still charged the fee . If you know about coins , one big rule is . Do NOT clean or touch the surface of the coin. Leave it in it's original condition .

That rule kind of applies to our hobby and kind of does not . You don't want to touch your signed baseballs .

But as far as the game used items , as long as you do not harm the item or alter the original surfaces, it should not matter if you have touched, swung or worn or even caught a few balls with it ....

[hiramman]

Amen camarokids!

I've swung some of my bats, tried on and even worn one my game-used jerseys to a game(a common player of course and no ice cream was spilt on it - maybe a little beer) but that's what makes collecting fun. If you are collecting just so that your item is going to be worth big bucks in the future and you have your jerseys and bats in air-free sterilized glass sealed containers then you're missing the point of collecting.

The fun of collecting for me is showing others something special. Especially, say baseball fans that aren't collectors. They want to feel the bat in their hands because they've never seen or touched a real MLB bat. They want to feel the fabric on a game-used jersey. I'm not going to let them try the jersey on and where it around the house or out in the backyard as we play a little backyard baseball with the game-used Nolan Ryan glove, the game-used uncracked Hank Aaron bat, and the Sandy Koufax no-hitter game ball, but enjoying the hobby with others is what it is about for me.

And by the way, the "bow chicky bow wow" made me laugh out load.

[hiramman]

What cracks me up is those that say I tried on, but only for 1 minute or I took 1-2 swings with my bat. Like wearing it for 5 minutes or taking 20 swings is going destroy item. Give me a break. Way to serious for me.

The gamer I've worn to games was a non-roster player that never made it. Why buy a replica, when you can wear the real thing cheaper?

If you're so worried about your collectible that you want try it on, touch it, or swing it, you're missing out on the best part of this hobby. To believe that everyone's game used jersey comes straight from the players back to your hands without being touched or tried on is a joke. To believe that your game-used bat comes straight from the player without being rolled around on the lockerroom floor, some storage room floor or even some other collector's floor is crazy. You probably wouldn't want to know where all of these prized collectibles have been before you got your hands on them.

There are very few of us that receive these collectibles straight from the player on the field. Those are very special circumstances, but to be honest, if some bench warmer hands you his bat after he grounds out in a game, will it be any more valuable than the same player's similar bat selling on ebay. To you it will be, but to everyone else it will still be the same bat with a nice story.

Why worry about it. Enjoy it. It's a hobby, it's supposed to be fun!!!

[kingjammy24]

jon,

i've tried on some of my jerseys. by "try on", i mean put on for literally a couple of minutes. i haven't wear them around town, i haven't eaten in them, etc.

i'm a little more careful when handling my bats because i don't want even a speck of pinetar to come off. one of my bats, a joe carter, has a small red thread stuck to the pinetar. carter was known to wear batting gloves with a red-threaded back. i've done my utmost to make sure that that small red thread not be disturbed.

"My point is i believe this subject is being blown way out of proportion!Granted most of us aren't photographed while doing.But i can guarantee if you have items in your collection that you have bought from other collectors that they have been handled similarly to way that most of you are "digusted" by"

jon, you've missed one crucial point here: most of us don't do these things with other people's items. we do it with items we own. AMI did it with other peoples items and i'm guessing they didn't have permission. if i want to wear my roberto kelly jersey around the house while swinging my rickey henderson bat around like a maniac, then those are my items. i've paid for them and if they incur any damage as a result of my horseplay then it's my items that i've damaged. this is not the case when an auction house takes items belonging to consigners and plays a few rounds of whiffle ball with them. if you sent me a jersey to authenticate, how would you feel if you saw pics of me wearing it while wrestling with my friend? point is, if it's your item, then you've got the right to do what you wish. on the other hand, if someone has entrusted their item to you, then you clearly don't have this right. consigners expect that auction houses will treat their items carefully and with respect. clearly, ami didn't.

rudy.