A question for EVERY single member of this forum

[JasonM33]

I've been known to take a few swings with my Jose Canseco game used Cooper bat. I'm not going to sell it so I figure I can do with it as I please. I don't take it out and hit balls with it though. He he. That thing is the perfect length and weight for me. With the shaved handle it fits perfectly in my hands like it was made for me. I love it.

-Jason M

[Jags Fan Dan]

I will openly admit I have tried on both of my Brunell jerseys, for less than a minute each, just before I put it in the frame for posterity. I never considered it to be "damaging" to the jersey or value of the jersey. The value I don't really care about anyway, as I plan to keep the jerseys for the foreseeable future. I must admit, though, that when I first heard about people purchasing game used jerseys to wear around, I was very suprised that anyone would do that.

[possum]

I am first and foremost a game worn hockey jersey collector. I have lots of hockey equipment as well and have tried most of it on. I have a game used goalie mask that I've put on several times. I don't sit around watching TV or anything, but just to see what its like. As for the jerseys, I wear a different one to each game I attend (I'm a STH in Charlotte). I'm a drinker and a smoker, both of which occur at the games I go to. If I decide to sell a gamer that I've worn, it gets a full Febreze treatment followed by hanging in the garage for a day or 2 with follow up spray-downs if needed. I've worn one of my baseball jerseys out of the house, but it'll probably never leave my closet. The one hockey jersey I've never worn is from the 70-71 EHL season and the only reason is that I'm afraid to pull it over my fat gut.

I can't imagine I ever would have gotten into collecting this stuff if I didn't think I'd put it on. Those of you who are so obsessive about your jersey not being worn by you frankly confuse me. Isn't that part of what makes this hobby awesome?

[RyanZimmerman11]

I am first and foremost a game worn hockey jersey collector. I have lots of hockey equipment as well and have tried most of it on. I have a game used goalie mask that I've put on several times. I don't sit around watching TV or anything, but just to see what its like. As for the jerseys, I wear a different one to each game I attend (I'm a STH in Charlotte). I'm a drinker and a smoker, both of which occur at the games I go to. If I decide to sell a gamer that I've worn, it gets a full Febreze treatment followed by hanging in the garage for a day or 2 with follow up spray-downs if needed. I've worn one of my baseball jerseys out of the house, but it'll probably never leave my closet. The one hockey jersey I've never worn is from the 70-71 EHL season and the only reason is that I'm afraid to pull it over my fat gut.

I can't imagine I ever would have gotten into collecting this stuff if I didn't think I'd put it on. Those of you who are so obsessive about your jersey not being worn by you frankly confuse me. Isn't that part of what makes this hobby awesome?

I'm all for "trying on" my game used items but this is where I have to draw a line and say that the bolded portion above...well that's just plain nasty. No "lol", no smiley face....serious as can be...that's gross.

Please let me know your Ebay ID so that I can be sure that I never buy a GU jersey from you.


Thanks.

[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!!!

[flaco1801]

you guys are insane. do u really purchase a game worn jersey thinking the player was the last person to wear it? the items are usually washed. next thing we are gonna see is ads stating game worn jersey of joe schmoe garaunteed to be last worn by him. and the value of a jersey is gonna be decreased because others have worn it? gimme a break. next is 1974 game worn and hasnt been worn since 1974. this thread is just asking for more lunacy. buy it, wear it, enjoy it life is too short.

[camarokids]

They ask me all the time. Even not too long ago my friend wanted some new pictures for myspace and he wanted to wear my Andruw Jones TBTC hat and Brian Jordan home jersey, and I ofcoarse said no. I never once slipped on anything, even the helmet. It's been in my case since I first got it (except for when I brought it to a show to get appraised)

I agree Hiramman , seems more than a few of you guys are taking this stuff way TOO serious . These items were used to play a game , sometimes a very boring game .

Kyle you have some nice stuff , take them out the cases , they need to breath .

They are feeling lonely and need to be held .... .... JK KH10...

These are items that can possibly have (if I may, in your honor, jake33) blood , spit , urine and other bodily fluids on them .... .... you may want to wash it first ??

[RyanZimmerman11]

Ok, this topic is starting to spin out of control with assumptions. Let's focus here people.

To the best of my knowledge, nobody here said they believe the player was the last to wear a GU jersey before they get.


What this thread has seen is two factions.

Group A - Feels "trying on" a GU jersey is ok, but "wearing" it is taboo.


Group B - Sees wearing your GU jerseys to games, parties, clubs etc is acceptable.



It's all a matter of preference. Or as they say....to each their own.


Personally..this is what I will do with my jerseys. I will purchase them (along with a matted jersey frame). When it arrives at my door, I will open the package like a little kid on Christmas morning. They I will try my newly purchased GU jersey on (provided I can fit into it..I wear a 56). Then, I will marvel at it for a few hours..maybe a day...who knows. Ultimately, it will end up in a frame hung on my office wall.

Thankfully I don't plan on buying a limitless number of jerseys I might run out of wall space. But, in the event that I wind up owning 10 or more Zimmerman jerseys...the few that mean the most to me will be framed and hung...while the others will be hung in my closet.

As for other items..the same rule of thumb applies. I will get them, enjoy them, then place the autographed items in a protective case and put them on a shelf. The non-auto'd items will simply be placed on a shelf or hung on a bat rack. You get the idea.


Rest assured that I hold no dillusional beliefs that Mr. Zimmerman is, was or will be the only (or last) person to have worn any of the items I plan on buying. But, you can also be just as sure that whomever I buy from had better not let me find a picture floating around the Internet of him/her wearing my GU item while playing footsies with his/her co-worker.

Since I'm paying X amount of dollars for something (seldom cheap), I expect a certain amount of professionalism from those whom I buy from.

I certainly would not expect them to be wearing the item while drinking and smoking, then I win/buy it and they suddenly make a mad dash for the FaBreeze bottle.


Like I said...professionalism. Whether you're a dealer or just a collector looking to sell an item....there are do's and don'ts that should be followed.

I sell baseball cards. You don't see me eating hot wings while handling them. Then wiping them off with a Bounty paper towel before I list them on Ebay.



I could make analogies all day, but I won't.

[kingjammy24]

i once heard someone on this forum say that, in reference to game used items, it's not so much that we own these items, as much as we hang on to them and preserve them for the next generation. i thought it was a great quote.

i share reid fontaine's mindset that these items are no different than any other cultural artifacts that you'd see in a museum. there's a desire to preserve and pass on these tangible pieces of history. what's the difference between jackie robinson's rookie jersey and a rembrandt? why would you treat one any differently than the other? i've never heard anyone who collects ancient greek urns say that the fun part of the hobby was filling them with water and sticking flowers in them. the fun part of the hobby for them was in possessing such an incredible piece of human history.

that said, i realize that people collect for different reasons. some apparently see the "fun" part of this hobby in being an adult walking around town wearing a gamer or in watching their toddler catapult a spoon full of pudding onto a jersey that clinched their hometowns only division title. for others, the fun part is in feeling that, although you don't have the budget of a museum, you're still keeping a inherant and colorful part of american history alive by preserving these pieces. it'd be as inaccurate to call one group "too serious" as it would be to call the other group "irresponsible".

noone's talking about an expectation that items come directly from players. they're talking about an expectation that previous owners didn't wear them while mudwrestling with the family dog. there are antiquities out there, hundreds of years old, that have passed through dozens of hands and yet not sustained any damage. it doesn't matter how people have owned an item but rather how they've taken care of it. i've seen several high-end paintings that have passed through many hands. strangely, i've yet to see a van gogh or a rembrandt with a big peanut butter stain.

rudy.

[TNTtoys]

I share the notion that these items are a piece of history... and I treat my pieces as such. I would not place my 1987 Dwight Gooden jersey over my head. It is and always will be a special item that I look to preserve, hang on my wall, pass down to little Nicky, etc.

However where I cross the line from collectible to "article of clothing in my wardrobe" is that 1987 jersey of similar style that was worn by "unknown player #75." It's a team jersey, it was worn in batting practice or spring training, it may have been recycled through the minors... but the bottom line to me is that it is not history. There is no story to it. No player that I have ever heard of has worn it. Nothing special about it other than a style that I like, and certainly a very nice upgrade to the Sand Knit, Rawlings or Majestic replica / retail authentics of the time. I could even wear a new "throwback" jersey that bears the likeness of an old classic... but again, why pay Mitchell and Ness prices or buy the Majestic Cooperstown Collection without likeness to the original when you can have the real thing, and pay less for it.