Why Game Used Equipment Only?

[otismalibu]

I think it makes a huge difference on the type of card or autograph collecting you do.

Agreed. I still collect the odd auto card, but not the overpriced chase cards. You can occasionally grab up great looking in-person card autos (on eBay) on the cheap.

Old posters and photos rank high with me as well.

I just bought some almost 40 year-old hoops photos, that I thought I'd never find. Incredibly rare.

Also, Dr. J. game items are...
a) pretty spendy
b) often questionable

This sort of limits going gamer crazy.

Obviously, gamers are at the top of the popularity list, but one can still find unique and impressive items that fall into other memorabilia categories, IMO.

[joelsabi]

I would collect everything baseball if it weren't for these five reasons:

1. Money
2. Money
3. Money
4. Money
5. Yes that's right.....money.

I understand we cannot collect everything unless we had an unlimited bankroll. But why game used? Why not all your money for collecting going into baseball cards or autographs.

[joelsabi]

Hey Joel... You might remember me from the Beckett Boards... And you may have noticed I haven't been there in 18 months. I have been moving to exclusively collecting game used items (mostly bats - though my comments below would apply to helmets, jerseys, etc as well) for the past couple years, though I still will collect the very occassional autographed rookie card and the very occassional autograph here and there of a favorite player whose game used items I cannot afford or dont want to pay that much for. IE I cant pay 1500-2500 for a George Brett bat.

Anyhow, to answer your request, here are 5 reasons I'm focusing nearly exclusively on game used:
1. Opening packs of baseball cards is - for a natural born gambler - fun, addictive, and exciting. But also expensive and mostly unrewarding. Nowadays the card companies are not delivering the value per box that they did in the early 2000s, when I got hooked. Too often I opened boxes at $100 that delivered $20 of value, maybe.

2. Rather than opening packs, collecting singles is an option. But the problem remains that cards are just not that interesting to me anymore; saturation, little differentiation between cards/years/subsets, and the recycling of card designs. And frankly as a photography-enthusiast, I am constantly disappointed and turned-off by the poor image quality and uninteresting photographs on cards.

3. I avoid licensed stuff like mini-helmets, trash cans, lamps, clocks etc. I just think they can look tacky and its not worth the house decorating debates with the wife. Along with that 8x10s and the like hold little appeal for me - they just don't give me any satisfaction, unless I took the picture or there is something special about it.

4. About time for some positives here... I love wood bats. Always have. I like the sound they make, I like how they look, I like the feel in your hands, I like that no two are identical. I love game used bats because they have character: tape, pinetar, ball marks, seam impressions, cleat marks, ink transfers, grass, dirt, bat rack marks, knob markings, cracks, splintering, uncracked. Each one is slightly different, each one has a story, each one was held and used and modified (tape, tar, etc) by the player to maximize their potential for success. Players choose and design their bats to meet their size, skills, strengths. Players love their bats and revere them. Players' choice of wood, length, weight, manufacturer, color, and use characteristics change and evolve throughout their career. Short answer, bats are like snowflakes no two are exactly the same and each one is in its own way special.

5. Game used items have many great attributes as others have posted. But above all else, I am a sports fan, a collector and gambler at heart, and a conservative accountant, scientific and analytical thinker - most of the time -, and probably with a little obsessive compulsive tendency. I feel that with game used items, I can fulfill my desire to collect interesting things, that are for the most part unique, intriguing, and deliver good, lasting satisfaction relative to the price paid. I have bought some incredible game used bats for less than a couple of packs of SP Authentic football would have cost.

I don't feel the need to gamble on game-used like I did with cards, I don't chase "new" product for big hits.

Game used provides me everything I need and want from the sports collectibles hobby and frankly nothing else compares to it, for me personally.

Thanks on the reply.

1. Never had the urge to buy boxes but bought singles at card show before moving towards game used.
2. Totally relate with your second point. Was hard to keep up with collecting every single card of your favorite player and then have to chase cards parallel cards that looks like another card i have but cost 2x-10x more just because the changed from silver to gold. or they stamped it artist proofs. (is it really necessary for a card company to have 2000 proof of a baseball card? is quality assurance at card companies that poor or are they just manufacturing collectibles?)
3. Relate to this. I wont buy a plate commemorating ARod hitting 40/40 if such an animal exist. I agree we got to let the wife buy in to our hobby too.
4. Great reason for going game used bats only
5. I agree game used item have the best value. Why buy a 1 of 1 baseball card of a player if you can get a bat of that player for same price and sometime even less. Why buy a chip of a bat on a card when you can but the whole bat?


Great list.

[joelsabi]

I used to be into collecting autographs and cards...but I came to several conclusions:

1. An autograph forger can sign a stack of 8x10's - literally hundreds per hour. It's much harder to get hundreds of bats...so the chance of forgery (though still very possible) is more in my favor with game used items.

2. The 'authenticators' of autographs are usually underqualified and overpaid. Some of the best bat authenticators will tell you for FREE if a bat is a fake or questionable.

3. Cards are a joke nowadays. It's all about gimmicks and eBay. Most bat collectors I know are collecting out of joy - rather than buying a bunch of random stuff trying to turn a profit (notice I said MOST)

4. Bats look cooler and are a better conversation piece than cards or autographs - in most cases.

6. Can't swing an 8x10 in my living room without ruining it.

great responses as always from you.

1. Agree Forgers would rather be able to duplicate large quantities and game used equipment are more limited than photocopied photos.
2. Yes I have the same feeling that experts in game used are willing to share their expertise more freely than other parts of the hobby.
4. Bats sometimes do have the shock and awe on my friends. "How in the heck did you get that?"
6. Great point. If the bat accidentally falls from a display case, no concern of ruining its value from lost condition.

[joelsabi]

Also, Dr. J. game items are...
a) pretty spendy
b) often questionable

This sort of limits going gamer crazy.

Obviously, gamers are at the top of the popularity list, but one can still find unique and impressive items that fall into other memorabilia categories, IMO.

From your statement above, I feel the same way about collecting ARod. I think that's why I need more convincing to go "all in" on game used equipment.

[joelsabi]

Trying not to duplicate the excellent points made and have nothing to do with money:

1. There is something special about a true piece of the game...that's what a good GU piece really is...a moment captured in time. It could be a moment in your life you recall through baseball or a moment in a game that was meaningful. I suppose an auto is also a moment caught in time...at a card table in a convention hall by some reseller. An exception is meeting an athlete and getting a sig...that can be memorable.

2. Each GU piece is different and the good ones tell stories. My GU World Series bat from 2007 still has fenway grass and dirt embedded in the tar. My hammered Reyes bat was used for 2 weeks and looks like it was caught in a combine harvester...imagine the action.

3. I enjoy the challenge of photomatching, though it is rare to get a bit hit like my GU Youk jersey that was used in his first grand slam, or my Ortiz World Series helmet. It was a real thrill to find the key pictures to prove the use. Most will not be matched, but once in a while...

4. The variety of equipment is huge. I have now branched out into GU hockey sticks (bobby orr!) and enjoy learning the players and models.

5. You can play with your stuff. I can wear a jersey at a game or let my kid's little league team swing a Griffey bat. My office has stuff you can pick up and people do. I guess they could pick up an auto ball, but it will just smudge.

Matt

Great list Matt. Its tough not duplicating reasons already given. I think Kyle may have something to say about the first part of #5.

[skyking26]

I don't set any boundaries. I started collecting 30 years ago and collecting GU was a bit unheard of really.

My first GU purchase was around '88, with a Kingman bat and '75 Mets home Kingman jersey, which I foolishly sold a year ago to by Kingman's full '73 Giants uniform. Not foolish I bought the '73 as it hangs on my wall, but that I sold the '75. My wife was on my hard about $$ spent.

As a passionate collector, and a guy who is a player collector, I still get geeked up when Topps Vault releases a Kingman negative from his cards, etc. So, I still buy other things than game used!!!

I just can't stop myself. Some guys take drugs, some drink beer, some gamble, Bob collects sports memorbilia.

[godwulf]

You will never show a player one of his Baseball cards, and watch him hold it lovingly while examining it, maybe take a half swing with it, and hear him say the words, "Yeah, this was a good one!"

[joelsabi]

I don't set any boundaries. I started collecting 30 years ago and collecting GU was a bit unheard of really.

My first GU purchase was around '88, with a Kingman bat and '75 Mets home Kingman jersey, which I foolishly sold a year ago to by Kingman's full '73 Giants uniform. Not foolish I bought the '73 as it hangs on my wall, but that I sold the '75. My wife was on my hard about $$ spent.

As a passionate collector, and a guy who is a player collector, I still get geeked up when Topps Vault releases a Kingman negative from his cards, etc. So, I still buy other things than game used!!!

I just can't stop myself. Some guys take drugs, some drink beer, some gamble, Bob collects sports memorbilia.

Topps Player contracts and Topps Negatives are interesting to me too.

[joelsabi]

You will never show a player one of his Baseball cards, and watch him hold it lovingly while examining it, maybe take a half swing with it, and hear him say the words, "Yeah, this was a good one!"

Great visual on making your point. Most players do seem to have an attachment to their bats.