What is your favorite game used item?

[ironmanfan]

Re: Whats your favorite piece of memorabilia in your collection??

great story. how did the hof get it? i know it used to belong to barry halper.

Yes, Barry Halper did indeed own this bat at one time. However, there was some dissention in KC that a limited partner in the Yankees owned this piece of important Royals history memorabilia and Brett actually traded some things back to Barry (some of which was bogus; but that is a different story for another day) to get the PineTar bat back. At that point either Brett or the Royals donated it to Cooperstown....

[joelsabi]

Re: Whats your favorite piece of memorabilia in your collection??

Yes, Barry Halper did indeed own this bat at one time. However, there was some dissention in KC that a limited partner in the Yankees owned this piece of important Royals history memorabilia and Brett actually traded some things back to Barry (some of which was bogus; but that is a different story for another day) to get the PineTar bat back. At that point either Brett or the Royals donated it to Cooperstown....

Great gesture by Barry Halper. He was the consummate collector. Barry had a pine tar can and other items related to the game in a framed display that included the bat. Someone removed it from this display at some point.

[rj_lucas]

Re: Whats your favorite piece of memorabilia in your collection??

Yes, Barry Halper did indeed own this bat at one time. However, there was some dissention in KC that a limited partner in the Yankees owned this piece of important Royals history memorabilia and Brett actually traded some things back to Barry (some of which was bogus; but that is a different story for another day) to get the PineTar bat back. At that point either Brett or the Royals donated it to Cooperstown....

At the risk of risk of sounding like even more of a name dropper (ah, what the heck), Brett told me he hand delivered the bat to the HOF. To address any future questions about whether this was THE bat, he wrote the words "This is the pine tar bat" on the barrel.

He also told me, and I have never seen this story anywhere else, that in the dugout, as the bat was being examined, he said to his teammates "Watch this -- if they overturn it I'm going to go ape$3&!".

What's funny, according to Brett, is that he really wasn't that upset when the HR was overturned. But since he'd made that statement to his teammates, he felt like he needed to put on a show.

I don't know if that's true or not, but if it is, he should have won the Academy Award for Best Actor that year

Rick
rickjlucas@gmail.com

[cordovacollector]

Re: Whats your favorite piece of memorabilia in your collection??

Can I post one more favorite? It's the only game worn football jersey I have. Sorry for poor quality photos. Camera is packed away in some unlabeled moving box and am trying to survive with cellphone.

Marty Cordova - 1987 Bishop Gorman football jersey - senior year of high school - special event jersey worn only in NV state championship game - he was defensive lineback and receiver

[both-teams-played-hard]

Re: Whats your favorite piece of memorabilia in your collection??

Can I post one more favorite? It's the only game worn football jersey I have. Sorry for poor quality photos. Camera is packed away in some unlabeled moving box and am trying to survive with cellphone.

Marty Cordova - 1987 Bishop Gorman football jersey - senior year of high school - special event jersey worn only in NV state championship game - he was defensive lineback and receiver

Wow...Cordovacollector...you seem to have the Cordova Hall-of-Fame in your home!

[cordovacollector]

Re: Whats your favorite piece of memorabilia in your collection??

Wow...Cordovacollector...you seem to have the Cordova Hall-of-Fame in your home!

Thanks, BTPH ... been working on it since 1994. Most fun I have ever had in collecting. Have a lot of other collectors to thank that did a lot of hard work. There were about 5-10 major collectors of his items and eventually I was able to buy all their collections. Lots of patience but eventually they lost interest and knew I planned to keep it all together. They did a lot of hard work to get "stuff" and it is fun to keep it all together.

[gingi79]

Re: Whats your favorite piece of memorabilia in your collection??

I own a MeiGray registered Pavel Bure Jersey from their 94 Stanley Cup Final season. (Sorry, I still like typing that )

My fiance financed it and that's why it means so much. She found it on eBay, asked if it was worth the asking price and offered to pay for it. I flipped and offered to pay her back. She then said "I already paid" and smiled. God bless supportive women.

[stkmtimo]

Re: Whats your favorite piece of memorabilia in your collection??

Thanks, BTPH ... been working on it since 1994. Most fun I have ever had in collecting. Have a lot of other collectors to thank that did a lot of hard work. There were about 5-10 major collectors of his items and eventually I was able to buy all their collections. Lots of patience but eventually they lost interest and knew I planned to keep it all together. They did a lot of hard work to get "stuff" and it is fun to keep it all together.

Great Cordova pieces! Do you know how the other collectors obtained some of those one of a kind items? I'm guessing they talked with Cordova directly or with his family since those are some awesome pieces.

Tim

[David]

Re: Whats your favorite piece of memorabilia in your collection??

1866 etched silver belt buckle given as award to a player. Back in those days, the belt and buckle was a primary identifier to a team, so a buckle was natural as an award.

[cordovacollector]

Re: Whats your favorite piece of memorabilia in your collection??

Great Cordova pieces! Do you know how the other collectors obtained some of those one of a kind items? I'm guessing they talked with Cordova directly or with his family since those are some awesome pieces.

Hi Tim ~ Actually, about six of us were collecting seriously at the same time since about 1994, what one would miss the others would find. Early on his brother set up a website for him and they found a box in the family garage. Marty had no interest in keeping "stuff" so about a dozen very early items were sold on the website to help fund it.

Glad to hear someone else appreciates the collection. Marty had absolutely no ego tied up in his stuff - and actually I think he thought we were all a bit daft in collecting it. The Twins Pro Shops were a great source for major and minor league items, Sports Collectors Digest was nearly a catalog every week, and as the internet and eBay came along, we all had a great time finding things. And, oh, things were much cheaper then! Eventually it all landed in one place. Down the road if Marty or his family ever have regrets in not saving things, I plan to just give it all back to them. The fun is the hunt, not just the owning.

[cordovacollector]

Re: Whats your favorite piece of memorabilia in your collection??

1866 etched silver belt buckle given as award to a player. Back in those days, the belt and buckle was a primary identifier to a team, so a buckle was natural as an award.

David ~ Can I interest you in trading that buckle for my entire collection ... and my house? It would fit in real well with a certain Larry Doby glove .... oh well. Now THAT is a FINE baseball masterpiece for any collection. Got an interesting story behind acquiring it?

[David]

Re: Whats your favorite piece of memorabilia in your collection??

This was my all time favorite baseball item, but, alas, I sold it. It's an 1896 full sized baseball bat handmade, inscribed and dated in Maine State Prison by a prisoner serving a life sentence. The bat has rings hand cut into the barrel and the original prison decal. After I bought it I showed it to director of the prison museum and she said it was the real deal and the prison had a woodworking shop for prisoners. The bat is near mint but the original suede carrying case is tattered.

[BULBUS]

Re: Whats your favorite piece of memorabilia in your collection??

Posted a before, but this is my favorite, 1987 Mattingly gamer:

[JETEFAN]

Re: Whats your favorite piece of memorabilia in your collection??

Posted a before, but this is my favorite, 1987 Mattingly gamer:

[ATTACH]25044[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]25045[/ATTACH]

Hey Bulbus how did I miss this beauty.. Great bat !!!

George

[BULBUS]

Re: Whats your favorite piece of memorabilia in your collection??

Hey Bulbus how did I miss this beauty.. Great bat !!!

George

Hey George,

I scored this bat on Ebay about 3-4 years ago. The 1k bin price was very reasonable, but I was able to get the person to end the auction for a better price.

Take care,
Chris