Underpriced / Overpriced Oddities

[Nnunnari]

Re: Underpriced / Overpriced Oddities

Undervalued:
McGriff
Winfield
Alomar
Pudge
Sheffield
Thomas
Rickey

All HOFers whose bats you can get for under $300 on ebay.

Overvauled:
All Yankees/Red Sox bats
All JT Bats

[kingjammy24]

Re: Underpriced / Overpriced Oddities

good responses and i agree with most of them. interesting to see there's pretty much a consensus of who's undervalued. great underpriced examples of mcgriff (493 clean HRs!), winfield, and especially raines who spent his entire career underrated.

also completely agree with the overpriced examples of mattingly ($2k+ for a bat of a non-HOFer who didn't set any records?) and ripken. boggs, gwynn, and puckett (all HOF'ers, all 3000-hit members) were what mattingly was supposed to be had he not crapped out so early and yet mattingly's bats are worth twice what boggs', gwynns', and pucketts are worth. supply explains some of it but i don't see a lot of nice early-career boggs, gwynns, or winfields flying around. i don't even see a lot of nice early career mcgriffs around and his bats go for peanuts. who knew hitting 493 clean HRs would be worth so little.

while i agree that the HR has been devalued ever since bonds made a complete mockery of it and hit 73 (73! very subtle barry! he may as well have hit 120) but you'd think that'd place an even bigger premium on clean sluggers like griffey, mcgriff, and thomas and it hasn't really. ripken and brett were never really HR guys and their items go for more than sluggers like mcgriff and thomas. (ripken still confuses me. small-market team, sub-500 HRs, sub-.300 hitter, good supply of his bats floating around and i never quite understood the excitement behind a consecutive-game streak).

mcgwire also confuses me. at one point, sosa was very popular (had his own pepsi commercials!) yet his popularity completely died out. on the other hand, despite everyone believing that mcgwire juiced it from beginning to end, he's still got a large enough fan base to support these high prices? at this point, it's becoming apparent that mcgwire is not getting into the HOF. yet his values are still at HOF prices. every other big-name steroid star was kicked to the curb, except mcgwire. his bats may be in relative short supply but does that matter if the majority of his career has one huge asterisk? solid bonds gamers are in short supply and folks couldn't care less. jeff kranz took a bath when he unloaded his bonds items. yet mcgwire juiced all he wanted and it doesn't really seem to have affected his collectability. maybe fans don't care as much about steroids as they let on? maybe if you're a friendly, HR-hitting, elbow-basher you'll get a free pass?

it seems popularity plays a huge role. you can miss the HOF and juice it your entire career but if you somehow manage to remain popular, then your items will be worth more than your peers who made the HOF and didn't juice it. crazy. sounds like collectors might be better off looking at popularity than stats.

rudy.

[Yankwood]

Re: Underpriced / Overpriced Oddities

Am I the only one who disagrees with this statement? Boggs was better than Brett?? Go ahead, take that .328 average full of singles slapped to to left. I'll take the 200+ homers, 500+ RBI, and fiery leadership. Boggs was a selfish SOB to play with, Brett just wanted to win.

Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.com

Not to derail or intercept the post because I think it's a good one, but I agree with you. I'll take Brett over Boggs in a heartbeat. And I don't really think it's that close.

[Yankwood]

Re: Underpriced / Overpriced Oddities

Undervalued:
McGriff
Winfield
Alomar
Pudge
Sheffield
Thomas
Rickey

All HOFers whose bats you can get for under $300 on ebay.

Overvauled:
All Yankees/Red Sox bats
All JT Bats

Winfield played a good part of his career with the Yankees, so obviously it's not ALL Yankees bats. However most of the time, I think it's true.

[suave1477]

Re: Underpriced / Overpriced Oddities

good responses and i agree with most of them. interesting to see there's pretty much a consensus of who's undervalued. great underpriced examples of mcgriff (493 clean HRs!), winfield, and especially raines who spent his entire career underrated.

also completely agree with the overpriced examples of mattingly ($2k+ for a bat of a non-HOFer who didn't set any records?) and ripken. boggs, gwynn, and puckett (all HOF'ers, all 3000-hit members) were what mattingly was supposed to be had he not crapped out so early and yet mattingly's bats are worth twice what boggs', gwynns', and pucketts are worth. supply explains some of it but i don't see a lot of nice early-career boggs, gwynns, or winfields flying around. i don't even see a lot of nice early career mcgriffs around and his bats go for peanuts. who knew hitting 493 clean HRs would be worth so little.

while i agree that the HR has been devalued ever since bonds made a complete mockery of it and hit 73 (73! very subtle barry! he may as well have hit 120) but you'd think that'd place an even bigger premium on clean sluggers like griffey, mcgriff, and thomas and it hasn't really. ripken and brett were never really HR guys and their items go for more than sluggers like mcgriff and thomas. (ripken still confuses me. small-market team, sub-500 HRs, sub-.300 hitter, good supply of his bats floating around and i never quite understood the excitement behind a consecutive-game streak).

mcgwire also confuses me. at one point, sosa was very popular (had his own pepsi commercials!) yet his popularity completely died out. on the other hand, despite everyone believing that mcgwire juiced it from beginning to end, he's still got a large enough fan base to support these high prices? at this point, it's becoming apparent that mcgwire is not getting into the HOF. yet his values are still at HOF prices. every other big-name steroid star was kicked to the curb, except mcgwire. his bats may be in relative short supply but does that matter if the majority of his career has one huge asterisk? solid bonds gamers are in short supply and folks couldn't care less. jeff kranz took a bath when he unloaded his bonds items. yet mcgwire juiced all he wanted and it doesn't really seem to have affected his collectability. maybe fans don't care as much about steroids as they let on? maybe if you're a friendly, HR-hitting, elbow-basher you'll get a free pass?

it seems popularity plays a huge role. you can miss the HOF and juice it your entire career but if you somehow manage to remain popular, then your items will be worth more than your peers who made the HOF and didn't juice it. crazy. sounds like collectors might be better off looking at popularity than stats.

rudy.

Again KingJammy your correct on everything and answered your own question to a point.... Yes popularity plays a huge role... but.... this is nothing new this goes for any kind of hobby. This isn't something that just poppped up for the Game Used Hobby.
Players you mentioned McGriff, Winfield, raines were all great players but they all made there numbers with out any pizazz which is what interests alot of people espcially people who don't normally buy into the hobby.

Brett - remembered for the pine tar incident - Show me a game used Brett bat with Pine Tar, I'll show you ten buyers.
Ripken - remembered for breaking Gherigs record - Show me a game used bat of his, i'll show you pleny of buyers

McGriff - yes he hit alot of home runs quietly over years - but to be honest with you what is he really remembered for that sticks out other then just playing??
(Now I am not saying he hasn't done anything, but nothing I remember, so if he did do something how memorable can it be to collectors who never heard of him)

Especially every day that goes by the collectors are getting younger and younger. They are going to compete to get the guys they heard of Brett, ripken. Mcgriff whooo???

You say collectors rather the roid guys over the clean ones, yes and no.

Here is my example I gave someone a few weeks back - 1919 Black Sox the biggest cheaters in the game to this day - But imagine if someone offered you an Ed Cicotte Jersey or Buck Weaver bat. Would you turn it down??? because they were cheaters??? Maybe you would, but I wouldn't and many other collectors wouldn't. Why?? beacause they were cheaters??? No because they were involved in one of the biggest scandals in history!!!

Human Interest = Popularity + Rare Item = High Premium


Somoeone here said Pudge is undervalued??? How is that so??? His items sell for a high premium and he is not even worth it. In my opinion he is over valued

Cano over valued

While with the Yankees Sheffield i felt started becoming a bit over valued, but his prices have dropped to where I think they should be.

[corsairs22]

Re: Underpriced / Overpriced Oddities

Suave
That is a good point about the Black Sox items. Of course, harldy anybody would have wanted their bats, autographs etc. from the 20's thru the early 60's. It was only when they died off and the book came out that they came to be seen as romantic outlaws rather than as crooks or traitors. I imagine it will take a few decades before Bonds, Clemens, etc. become victims in the public imagination.

[FastLane80]

Re: Underpriced / Overpriced Oddities

Undervalued:
Fernando Valenzuela. For the icon he was, I'd think his stuff would fetch more than it has.

[kingjammy24]

Re: Underpriced / Overpriced Oddities

...Players you mentioned McGriff, Winfield, raines were all great players but they all made there numbers with out any pizazz which is what interests alot of people espcially people who don't normally buy into the hobby.

Brett - remembered for the pine tar incident - Show me a game used Brett bat with Pine Tar, I'll show you ten buyers.
Ripken - remembered for breaking Gherigs record - Show me a game used bat of his, i'll show you pleny of buyers
McGriff - yes he hit alot of home runs quietly over years - but to be honest with you what is he really remembered for that sticks out other then just playing??..
Especially every day that goes by the collectors are getting younger and younger. They are going to compete to get the guys they heard of Brett, ripken. Mcgriff whooo???

what was mattingly's "pizazz" then? what's exciting things is he remembered for? playing on some bad yankees teams? never going to the world series? breaking no records? crapping out after only 6 seasons? because his bats go for a mint. the only thing that comes to mind is the time he refused to cut his mullet. in a way, mattingly reminds me of dale murphy, except that murphy lasted longer than 6 seasons and won 2 MVPs compared to mattingly's 1. is there any interest in dale murphy bats? mattingly's bats are rare but so are mcgriffs' from the same pre-1990 time frame.

you say ripken's premium comes from breaking gehrig's record. where's henderson's premium then for breaking lou brock's record? it's not there. both them are non-HR records yet only ripkens seems to have added a premium. ripken is remembered for breaking gehrig's record but henderson isn't remembered for breaking brocks'? any way you slice it, ripken and mattingly prices are pretty strange.

rudy.

[byergo]

Re: Underpriced / Overpriced Oddities

The reasons Bo Jackson items bring top dollar: he is revered all over the country--particularly Alabama, KC, Oakland/LA, Chicago, Anaheim, (note: LA and Chicago are the 2nd and 3rd largest cities in the US = HUGE fan base), his GU items are scarce, many consider him to be the greatest athlete ever, and he did it CLEAN.

Watch this amazing highlight reel and let me know who is as exciting to watch as Bo?:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1893021144722060873

Trying to compare another mere mortal to Bo is akin to comparing them to Superman. They always fail in comparison. No other athlete is compared to Bo because who else can run a 4.19 forty, and hit Ruthian homeruns? It would be laughable. Even when stacked up against HOF'ers and supposedly great athletes Bo makes them look like chumps. There are plenty of players where you have to think to yourself: "What is their most memorable/remarkable play?" What did they do that displayed greatness?" For Bo the reverse is true: "Which of this never ending highlight reel of freakish, mind-blowing plays should I pick?"

His body of work is not just 4 years in the NFL and 8 years in MLB (playing two professional sports at the same time nonetheless), but also 4 years of completely dominating D-I football winning the Heisman Trophy and entry to the Collegiate Football HOF, as well as amazing feats in track and baseball. His sports marketing acomplishments and pop culture significance are icing on the cake.

Some collectors are more into the professional athlete "lifetime achievement" category, while some appreciate the amazing awe inspiring athlete.

On the eighth day God created Bo Jackson.

[kingjammy24]

Re: Underpriced / Overpriced Oddities

The reasons Bo Jackson items bring top dollar: he is revered all over the country--particularly Alabama, KC, Oakland/LA, Chicago, Anaheim, (note: LA and Chicago are the 2nd and 3rd largest cities in the US = HUGE fan base), his GU items are scarce, many consider him to be the greatest athlete ever, and he did it CLEAN.

Watch this amazing highlight reel and let me know who is as exciting to watch as Bo?:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1893021144722060873

Trying to compare another mere mortal to Bo is akin to comparing them to Superman. They always fail in comparison. No other athlete is compared to Bo because who else can run a 4.19 forty, and hit Ruthian homeruns? It would be laughable. Even when stacked up against HOF'ers and supposedly great athletes Bo makes them look like chumps. There are plenty of players where you have to think to yourself: "What is their most memorable/remarkable play?" What did they do that displayed greatness?" For Bo the reverse is true: "Which of this never ending highlight reel of freakish, mind-blowing plays should I pick?"

His body of work is not just 4 years in the NFL and 8 years in MLB (playing two professional sports at the same time nonetheless), but also 4 years of completely dominating D-I football winning the Heisman Trophy and entry to the Collegiate Football HOF, as well as amazing feats in track and baseball. His sports marketing acomplishments and pop culture significance are icing on the cake.

Some collectors are more into the professional athlete "lifetime achievement" category, while some appreciate the amazing awe inspiring athlete.

On the eighth day God created Bo Jackson.

wow! all wrapped up in a deceptive .250 career batting avg. all the strikeouts were probably a part of his master plan..to..avoid..getting on base..or something. never able to crack more than 32 HRs in a season, i'm guessing bo was holding back his monstrous power on purpose lest he send a shot into orbit and knock a planet out of alignment...or just to avoid scoring more runs. ripken once hit 34 HRs. ruthian!

revered by so many hundreds of millions of adoring fans that he made the all-star team once in 8 years. again, part of his master plan...to..avoid racking up the awards...thus..saving money on shelf space.

have you considered loaning your jackson jerseys to the louvre? or the smithsonian? or would they just make the mona lisa or the wright flyer look like worthless trinkets? you could possibly sell them and use the money to buy new york city. of course, then you'd be only be known as the guy who owns new york city which pales in comparison to the being the guy with a bo jackson jersey. humility has its perks though.

rudy.

[byergo]

Re: Underpriced / Overpriced Oddities

Joe P @ KC Star says it better than I ever could:
---------------------------------------------------------

Between the Seams | Recalling Bo Jackson's days in baseball
By Joe Posnanski


Bo Jackson hit monstrous home runs, made miraculous defensive plays and stunned opponents with his speed. "This is not a normal guy," said teammate George Brett.



KANSAS CITY, Mo. — OK, so one day in New York, Bo Jackson complained in the dugout before a game. Reporters surrounded Bo, which never made him happy anyway. Reporters wanted to explain things, and Bo Jackson wasn't about explaining. Bo was about doing.

"Everything I do, people tend to exaggerate it," he moaned. "With me, they want to make things bigger than they are."

Bo said he was just another guy. He wasn't some sort of folk hero, like John Henry or Pecos Bill. No, he hurt like other players. He made mistakes like other players. He struck out a lot. He wasn't forged out of steel, and he couldn't outrun locomotives, and he couldn't turn back time by flying around the world and reversing the rotation of the earth.

"I'm just another player, you know?" he said.

Then the game began, Royals versus Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

First time up, Bo hit a 412-foot homer to center field.

Second time up, Bo smashed a 464-foot opposite-field home run. Longtime Yankees fans said that ball landed in a far-off place where only home runs by Ruth, Gehrig and Mantle from the left side ever reached.

"Colossal," teammate George Brett would say. "I had to stop and watch."

Third time up, Yankees manager Stump Merrill walked out to the mound to ask pitcher Andy Hawkins how he intended to get Bo out this time.

"I'll pitch it outside," Hawkins said.

"It better be way outside," Merrill replied.

Hawkins threw it way outside. Jackson poked the ball over the right-field fence for his third homer. The New York crowd went bananas.

Bo never got a fourth time up that day. Instead, he hurt his shoulder while diving and almost making one of the great catches in baseball history. New Yorkers stood and cheered as he walked off the field.

"You know what?" Royals Hall of Famer Frank White said almost 20 years later. "I really did play baseball with Superman."

It began a generation ago

It has been 20 years since Bo Jackson was a rookie. An entire generation of young baseball fans never experienced the thrill of watching Bo play baseball.

How can you explain Bo Jackson to a kid today? Old-time baseball fans and scouts tell tall tales about players. "Oh, you should have seen Mickey Mantle before he hurt his knees; he ran so fast he could bunt for doubles," they'll say.

Or, "Before Pete Reiser started running into walls, he could play left field and center field at the same time."

Or, "There was nobody quite like Monte Irvin before he went to war; he used to hit for the cycle three times a week."

So what makes Bo different? Well, for one thing, it's all on video. Bo really did break a baseball bat over his thigh after striking out. Bo really did throw a ball from left field all the way to first base on a fly to double up Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk. Bo really did, in his spare time, transform into the most sensational running back the NFL has ever seen. He really did ... well, he really did a lot of stuff.

But Bo Jackson was always grouchily unimpressed with himself. Michael Jordan thought that was part of Bo's magic. "Neither of us is very easily amazed," Jordan told Newsweek in those days when he and Bo were the two greatest athletes in the world.

When Bo Jackson was called up to the big leagues after only 53 minor-league games, he shrugged. When he had his first four-hit game in only his fifth game, he announced, "It's just another night."

Two days after that, he faced Seattle's Mike Moore, a power pitcher who would win 161 games in the big leagues. Before the game, Bo went over to Willie Wilson's bats, liked the feel of one, and announced, "This is mine."

With Willie's bat, Bo hit a 475-foot blast to left-center, the longest home run ever hit at Royals Stadium.

"There's something about Bo," Royals general manager John Schuerholz said then. "Call it mystical or magical."

Sept. 2, 1986: Bo's first game. His first at-bat was against Hall of Famer Steve Carlton. He hit a ground ball to second base, and Tim Hulett picked it up and threw to first — only Bo was already past the bag.

"Oh man, nothing that big should move that fast," said Royals Hall of Famer and former hitting coach John Mayberry.

July 29, 1988: Bo Jackson was facing Baltimore's Jeff Ballard. He called timeout and stepped out of the box. He adjusted his batting glove when he realized that the umpire did not actually grant his timeout, and Ballard was throwing the ball. Jackson jumped back into the box, swung that bat and ... yeah. He hit a home run.

"Most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life," says Bob Schaeffer, Kansas City's first-base coach at the time.

May 15, 1989: Baseball writer Peter Gammons was in Minnesota to write a Sports Illustrated cover story about Jackson, so he watched Bo take batting practice. It was a typical Bo hitting session — he cracked rockets all over the field. Then it was time for his last swing. Bo jumped into the cage and hit left-handed.

He hit a titanic shot 450 feet off the Hardware Hank sign in right field.

Left-handed.

"I got work to do," Bo said to the other players, whose jaws had dropped. He ran out to the outfield to shag some fly balls.

July 11, 1990: Bo ran up the outfield wall. Literally. He chased down a fly ball and caught it about four steps in front of the fence. He put his right foot on the wall, then his left, then his right — until he was 7 feet off the ground and sideways. For a guy who didn't want to be seen as a superhero, he sure kept doing superhero things.

"What do you think of Bo Jackson?" a reporter asked Bo Jackson.

"I've known this guy for years," Bo said of Bo. "And nothing he does fazes me."

"The Throw"

There are so many more. Once, he ran over catcher Rick Dempsey. Dempsey broke his thumb but said, "I held him to fewer yards than Brian Bosworth." That goes back to a Monday night game.

And we don't even have time for all the legendary football stories.

"The Throw" deserves its own section, however. On June 5, 1989, the Royals were playing at Seattle. It was the 10th inning, score was tied 3-3, Harold Reynolds was on first base when Scott Bradley rifled a double to left field. Reynolds was running on the pitch, so it was obvious he would score the winning run. He rounded third, headed for home and prepared to have his teammates mob him when he saw his teammate Darnell Coles pumping his arms, the baseball signal for "SLIDE!"

Reynolds thought: "Slide? Are you kidding me?"

So, he was about to launch into what he called "a courtesy slide" when he saw that Kansas City catcher Bob Boone had the ball. Boone tagged him.

Bo Jackson had made a flatfooted throw of 300 feet in the air. It was a perfect strike. It was so impossible, so ridiculous, so absurd that no umpire was on the spot to make the call. Plate umpire Larry Young finally came to his senses and made a fist — Reynolds was out.

"Now I've seen it all," Scott Bradley said.

"This is not a normal guy," said teammate George Brett.

"That was just a supernatural, unbelievable play," said Seattle manager Jim Lefebve.

"I just caught the ball, turned and threw," Bo grumbled. "End of story. ... It's nothing to brag about. Don't try to make a big issue out of it."

Bo Jackson's baseball career really ended on a football field in Los Angeles. He hurt his hip against the Cincinnati Bengals. He did come back and did a few remarkable things after that, but it was different. He wasn't superhuman anymore.

Harry Houdini in cleats

The thing is, anyone who saw him play will never forget him. Every game was like a Harry Houdini performance — you expected to see something you had never seen before.

This story began with that July day in 1990 at Yankee Stadium when Bo Jackson hit three home runs before being injured.

He missed more than a month, then returned on Aug. 11 to face Seattle. He came up in the second inning. The pitcher was Randy Johnson. First pitch, Bo crushed a long fly ball to center field. The ball splashed in the waterfall to the left of the scoreboard. The Royals estimated the homer flew 450 feet.

"I'm not trying to brag," Jackson said. "But I actually saw the threads on the ball right before I hit it."

For once, Bo Jackson had impressed himself. And that might have been his greatest feat of all.

[cjw]

Re: Underpriced / Overpriced Oddities

Joe P @ KC Star says it better than I ever could:
---------------------------------------------------------

Between the Seams | Recalling Bo Jackson's days in baseball
By Joe Posnanski


Bo Jackson hit monstrous home runs, made miraculous defensive plays and stunned opponents with his speed. "This is not a normal guy," said teammate George Brett.



KANSAS CITY, Mo. — OK, so one day in New York, Bo Jackson complained in the dugout before a game. Reporters surrounded Bo, which never made him happy anyway. Reporters wanted to explain things, and Bo Jackson wasn't about explaining. Bo was about doing.

"Everything I do, people tend to exaggerate it," he moaned. "With me, they want to make things bigger than they are."

Bo said he was just another guy. He wasn't some sort of folk hero, like John Henry or Pecos Bill. No, he hurt like other players. He made mistakes like other players. He struck out a lot. He wasn't forged out of steel, and he couldn't outrun locomotives, and he couldn't turn back time by flying around the world and reversing the rotation of the earth.

"I'm just another player, you know?" he said.

Then the game began, Royals versus Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

First time up, Bo hit a 412-foot homer to center field.

Second time up, Bo smashed a 464-foot opposite-field home run. Longtime Yankees fans said that ball landed in a far-off place where only home runs by Ruth, Gehrig and Mantle from the left side ever reached.

"Colossal," teammate George Brett would say. "I had to stop and watch."

Third time up, Yankees manager Stump Merrill walked out to the mound to ask pitcher Andy Hawkins how he intended to get Bo out this time.

"I'll pitch it outside," Hawkins said.

"It better be way outside," Merrill replied.

Hawkins threw it way outside. Jackson poked the ball over the right-field fence for his third homer. The New York crowd went bananas.

Bo never got a fourth time up that day. Instead, he hurt his shoulder while diving and almost making one of the great catches in baseball history. New Yorkers stood and cheered as he walked off the field.

"You know what?" Royals Hall of Famer Frank White said almost 20 years later. "I really did play baseball with Superman."

It began a generation ago

It has been 20 years since Bo Jackson was a rookie. An entire generation of young baseball fans never experienced the thrill of watching Bo play baseball.

How can you explain Bo Jackson to a kid today? Old-time baseball fans and scouts tell tall tales about players. "Oh, you should have seen Mickey Mantle before he hurt his knees; he ran so fast he could bunt for doubles," they'll say.

Or, "Before Pete Reiser started running into walls, he could play left field and center field at the same time."

Or, "There was nobody quite like Monte Irvin before he went to war; he used to hit for the cycle three times a week."

So what makes Bo different? Well, for one thing, it's all on video. Bo really did break a baseball bat over his thigh after striking out. Bo really did throw a ball from left field all the way to first base on a fly to double up Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk. Bo really did, in his spare time, transform into the most sensational running back the NFL has ever seen. He really did ... well, he really did a lot of stuff.

But Bo Jackson was always grouchily unimpressed with himself. Michael Jordan thought that was part of Bo's magic. "Neither of us is very easily amazed," Jordan told Newsweek in those days when he and Bo were the two greatest athletes in the world.

When Bo Jackson was called up to the big leagues after only 53 minor-league games, he shrugged. When he had his first four-hit game in only his fifth game, he announced, "It's just another night."

Two days after that, he faced Seattle's Mike Moore, a power pitcher who would win 161 games in the big leagues. Before the game, Bo went over to Willie Wilson's bats, liked the feel of one, and announced, "This is mine."

With Willie's bat, Bo hit a 475-foot blast to left-center, the longest home run ever hit at Royals Stadium.

"There's something about Bo," Royals general manager John Schuerholz said then. "Call it mystical or magical."

Sept. 2, 1986: Bo's first game. His first at-bat was against Hall of Famer Steve Carlton. He hit a ground ball to second base, and Tim Hulett picked it up and threw to first — only Bo was already past the bag.

"Oh man, nothing that big should move that fast," said Royals Hall of Famer and former hitting coach John Mayberry.

July 29, 1988: Bo Jackson was facing Baltimore's Jeff Ballard. He called timeout and stepped out of the box. He adjusted his batting glove when he realized that the umpire did not actually grant his timeout, and Ballard was throwing the ball. Jackson jumped back into the box, swung that bat and ... yeah. He hit a home run.

"Most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life," says Bob Schaeffer, Kansas City's first-base coach at the time.

May 15, 1989: Baseball writer Peter Gammons was in Minnesota to write a Sports Illustrated cover story about Jackson, so he watched Bo take batting practice. It was a typical Bo hitting session — he cracked rockets all over the field. Then it was time for his last swing. Bo jumped into the cage and hit left-handed.

He hit a titanic shot 450 feet off the Hardware Hank sign in right field.

Left-handed.

"I got work to do," Bo said to the other players, whose jaws had dropped. He ran out to the outfield to shag some fly balls.

July 11, 1990: Bo ran up the outfield wall. Literally. He chased down a fly ball and caught it about four steps in front of the fence. He put his right foot on the wall, then his left, then his right — until he was 7 feet off the ground and sideways. For a guy who didn't want to be seen as a superhero, he sure kept doing superhero things.

"What do you think of Bo Jackson?" a reporter asked Bo Jackson.

"I've known this guy for years," Bo said of Bo. "And nothing he does fazes me."

"The Throw"

There are so many more. Once, he ran over catcher Rick Dempsey. Dempsey broke his thumb but said, "I held him to fewer yards than Brian Bosworth." That goes back to a Monday night game.

And we don't even have time for all the legendary football stories.

"The Throw" deserves its own section, however. On June 5, 1989, the Royals were playing at Seattle. It was the 10th inning, score was tied 3-3, Harold Reynolds was on first base when Scott Bradley rifled a double to left field. Reynolds was running on the pitch, so it was obvious he would score the winning run. He rounded third, headed for home and prepared to have his teammates mob him when he saw his teammate Darnell Coles pumping his arms, the baseball signal for "SLIDE!"

Reynolds thought: "Slide? Are you kidding me?"

So, he was about to launch into what he called "a courtesy slide" when he saw that Kansas City catcher Bob Boone had the ball. Boone tagged him.

Bo Jackson had made a flatfooted throw of 300 feet in the air. It was a perfect strike. It was so impossible, so ridiculous, so absurd that no umpire was on the spot to make the call. Plate umpire Larry Young finally came to his senses and made a fist — Reynolds was out.

"Now I've seen it all," Scott Bradley said.

"This is not a normal guy," said teammate George Brett.

"That was just a supernatural, unbelievable play," said Seattle manager Jim Lefebve.

"I just caught the ball, turned and threw," Bo grumbled. "End of story. ... It's nothing to brag about. Don't try to make a big issue out of it."

Bo Jackson's baseball career really ended on a football field in Los Angeles. He hurt his hip against the Cincinnati Bengals. He did come back and did a few remarkable things after that, but it was different. He wasn't superhuman anymore.

Harry Houdini in cleats

The thing is, anyone who saw him play will never forget him. Every game was like a Harry Houdini performance — you expected to see something you had never seen before.

This story began with that July day in 1990 at Yankee Stadium when Bo Jackson hit three home runs before being injured.

He missed more than a month, then returned on Aug. 11 to face Seattle. He came up in the second inning. The pitcher was Randy Johnson. First pitch, Bo crushed a long fly ball to center field. The ball splashed in the waterfall to the left of the scoreboard. The Royals estimated the homer flew 450 feet.

"I'm not trying to brag," Jackson said. "But I actually saw the threads on the ball right before I hit it."

For once, Bo Jackson had impressed himself. And that might have been his greatest feat of all.

He was entertaining. He couldn't pull off an English accent though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekL3Nm4VD0M

[Yankwood]

Re: Underpriced / Overpriced Oddities

Perhaps supply and demand come into play here also. For as great as he was, I think I might hold him higher than alot of you do, Joe Morgan bats have never brought in much money either. Especially the ones from very late in his career. Very plentiful and thus, not very expensive.

[suave1477]

Re: Underpriced / Overpriced Oddities

what was mattingly's "pizazz" then? what's exciting things is he remembered for? playing on some bad yankees teams? never going to the world series? breaking no records? crapping out after only 6 seasons? because his bats go for a mint. the only thing that comes to mind is the time he refused to cut his mullet. in a way, mattingly reminds me of dale murphy, except that murphy lasted longer than 6 seasons and won 2 MVPs compared to mattingly's 1. is there any interest in dale murphy bats? mattingly's bats are rare but so are mcgriffs' from the same pre-1990 time frame.

you say ripken's premium comes from breaking gehrig's record. where's henderson's premium then for breaking lou brock's record? it's not there. both them are non-HR records yet only ripkens seems to have added a premium. ripken is remembered for breaking gehrig's record but henderson isn't remembered for breaking brocks'? any way you slice it, ripken and mattingly prices are pretty strange.

rudy.

I agree with you on Mattingly wasn't that great as his bats are valued for, but it was a NY Yankee favorite. What made him stick out was that he above average during a Yankee era where most were below average. Plus his game used items are scarce.
Again - Popularity + Rarity = High Premium

Now I am shocked at your comparison of Gehrig/Ripken vs Brock/Henderson

I am not even sure if you were serious about that comparison???

I mean seriously that is a No Brainer - I am not trying to be insulting so please do not take it that way - just trying to make a point.

Gehrigs stats and Popularity
BA. 340
HR 493
AB 8001
2 X MVP
7 X All Star
7 x Voted Top Ten MVP
Hits 2721
AL Triple Crown
6 x WS Champ
23 Grand Slams
Most BB by a First Baseman
(Stats go on and on)
Stats are compared to 7 other Hall of Famers
Not to mention was part of the 1 - 2 punch of Babe Ruth
Was on the Yankees - a huge market fan base team
Gave the greatest sports speech.
Died 2 Years later in 1941 - Died way before his time
Held one of Baseball longest records to play in games. (Which was he was most famous for due to dying of an illness that caused him to stop playing)

Cal Ripken Jr.
Broke the most coveted record of a man who did all that

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lou Brock stats and popularity
BA. 293
HR 149
6 X all Star
5 X Voted Top Ten MVP
Hits 3023
SB 938
2 x WS Champ
Stats compared to 5 Hall of famers
Was on the Reds team - nowhere near the fan base of the Yankees

Rickey Henderson
Broke his stolen base record


Do you see the difference??

How can you compare Gehrig and Brock to be the same?

[bigtruck260]

Re: Underpriced / Overpriced Oddities

McGwire bats are desireable because it was never proven that he took steroids. His bats that are legit are usually blasted with use, and in all probability, if you have a 1998-1999 model there is a very high probability that he hit a homer(s) with it. If he had confessed to juicing point blank...things MIGHT have been different.

I am one of those people that would pay handsomely (if I had the cash right now) for a Mac bat with heavy use and team paperwork...and from what I have seen - $2000 seems about par for the course. Guys my age (33) and around my age have strong memories of Mac's whole career...and it was, for some of us, very entertaining. Nostalgia is the other half.

OVERPRICED, overhyped - overdone...Derek Jeter. Sorry, he is an average player who had a few good seasons. His defense is terrible, the worst. If he played in any other city, his value would be FAR less than $1-2K for a cracked bat.

Magglio Ordonez is undervalued. His numbers are off the charts, yet I have seen bats of his sell for less than $100.