Weird Collector Stories

[skyking26]

Let's share some weird collector stories. We all have them, I'll start:

Early 90's. I'm still living at home, get a call from one of my classified ads looking for Dave Kingman items. Guy has a blonde Kingman Worth bat gamer. To date here in 2008, I have pics of Dave using this type bat, but have NEVER seen one available. At the time the guy tells me $200, very high at the time but I agree. He says he is going thru a divorce, so sit tight and wait so he can get into his soon-to-be ex's house and retrieve the bat... I get a call about 2 weeks later that he has the bat, and forward the funds... That has to be one of the wackiest stories I have been faced with in all these years!!!

Anybody else??

[mariner_gamers]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

About 10 years ago my wife's cousin and I are talking at a family function. We start talking sports and I bring up my new obsession of collecting game used Mariners bats. He pauses for a moment and says he has an old bat in his trunk he took from a guy during a fight a few years earlier. The bat now sits in his trunk in case any other "issues" arise. Then he tells me he will go and grab it and if it is something I would like he would be more than happy to give it to me. He comes back into the house with a game used and autographed Alvin Davis bat. The bat appears to be no worse for the wear even after a brawl and sitting in his trunk for years. AD may not mean much to the general public but he is all we had in Seattle during the mid 1980's so I was thrilled!

[both-teams-played-hard]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

I bought an early 70s durene football jersey at a second hand store in Los Angeles. It had a logo on the shoulders that was unfamiliar to me. I assumed, correctly, that it was a high school jersey. I sold it on eBay to a collector that I had known for a few years and shared correspondence and jersey knowledge. After he received the jersey, he told me he thought it was from his former high school. He said he was going to research old yearbooks from the school at the public library. It turns out that the jersey was from his former high school in Michigan. It was the same uniform number and was actually worn by his uncle in the early 70s. This uncle was killed shortly after he played high school football in the early 70s. My friend was a few years too young to have ever met his uncle.

[David]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

One of the eeriest sports items I have seen was a baseball painting by serial killer John Wayne Gacy that was autographed by a plethora of baseball stars and HOFers (Aaron, Mays, Rose, etc) plus Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Evidently the painting owner got the autographs at shows. Even though the painting was signed by Gacey in the corner, it appears the other signers did not realize the identity of artist— I assume they would have refused to sign if they did know. They just assumed they were signing someone's amaturish and benign-looking sports art.

[skyking26]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

One of the eeriest sports items I have seen was a baseball painting by serial killer John Wayne Gacy that was autographed by a plethora of baseball stars and HOFers (Aaron, Mays, Rose, etc) plus Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Evidently the painting owner got the autographs at shows. Even though the painting was signed by Gacey in the corner, it appears the other signers did not realize the identity of artist— I assume they would have refused to sign if they did know. They just assumed they were signing someone's amaturish and benign-looking sports art.

I'm familiar with Gacy's "art." He is one of the most lothsome creatures that crept from the gutter, and it can only be that the people you mention were not aware of the connection. I have often heard he sold his art and can only hope that any profits were attributed to victims families...

[Vintagedeputy]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

One of the eeriest sports items I have seen was a baseball painting by serial killer John Wayne Gacy that was autographed by a plethora of baseball stars and HOFers (Aaron, Mays, Rose, etc) plus Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Evidently the painting owner got the autographs at shows. Even though the painting was signed by Gacey in the corner, it appears the other signers did not realize the identity of artist— I assume they would have refused to sign if they did know. They just assumed they were signing someone's amaturish and benign-looking sports art.

I've seen that. Its at the Crime and Punishment museum in Wash. DC

[Dewey2007]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

In 1982, when the Raiders were still practicing in Alameda but playing in Los Angeles, a friend and I used to go to their training facility to get autographs. It's close to Thanksgiving and Marcus Allen is leaving the facility. He signs a couple of autographs and gives my friend a practice jersey. Then out of the blue he asks him if he wants a ham too. The team had given all the players hams to take home for the holiday but Marcus was young and single at the time and had no need for it I guess. My buddy gladly accepted and took it home to his mom. I guess you can say he got a Raiders team issued ham!!

[skyking26]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

This story comes from another Kingman collector (not me).

Back in 1989, Kingman is in the defunct now Senior League playing for the Tropics. Guy I know strikes up a conversation with Dave, and Kingman asks him where he is from. Guy says Virgina, and Dave says he'd love a Virginia ham. Guy says he can get one for him, and Dave says, what do you want in return? Guy says your jersey would be great...Dave pulled it off and threw it to him. He still has it today.

I myself have never obtained any game used piece I did not pay thru every orifice for....!

[David]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

The other eerie sports item I saw for auction was the watch Knute Rockne was wearing when he died in a plane crash. The time was stopped at the moment of impact.

[joelsabi]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

I met Yuyo Ruiz at a card show in Chicago and gravitated to his display because of his Clemente collection. I had my camera on hand for the signing of Dan Marino, who i found out was a huge Clemente fan. Marino was even planning to come over to look at a salesman's sample of Clemente world series ring after his signing time was over. I was taking shots of Yuyo's display after being introduce to Yuyo by his nephews that were manning the displays. I told Yuyo what an amazing collection he had and Yuyo offers to take a photo of me with his display. I agree but before he take my camera he opens up the display case and before i knew what was happening he plops some plane debri in my hand. I had never felt so uncomfortable in my life but I took the photo out of respect to Yuyo.

[David]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

As far as weird pieces of sports memorabilia go, I think nothing tops Ty Cobb's false teeth which currently reside in the Hall of Fame Museum.

[tym]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

About 10 years ago my wife's cousin and I are talking at a family function. We start talking sports and I bring up my new obsession of collecting game used Mariners bats. He pauses for a moment and says he has an old bat in his trunk he took from a guy during a fight a few years earlier. The bat now sits in his trunk in case any other "issues" arise. Then he tells me he will go and grab it and if it is something I would like he would be more than happy to give it to me. He comes back into the house with a game used and autographed Alvin Davis bat. The bat appears to be no worse for the wear even after a brawl and sitting in his trunk for years. AD may not mean much to the general public but he is all we had in Seattle during the mid 1980's so I was thrilled!

That is a weird story as Alvin is a very religious man. He was also the M’s rookie of the year and the first inductee into the M’s Hall of Fame. Seems funny his bat would be used like that J

[commando]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

I was living in Denver back in 1996, and Ray Nitschke came to town for a signing at a card show. I was 25 years old at the time, and was not old enough to have seen him play. Regardless, he was my favorite player of all time because he seemed like a really down to earth person, but was quite a fearsome beast on the playing field.

I went to the event and paid for Ray to sign a jersey (the signature cost maybe fifteen dollars?) There was no line there at the time, so Ray also graciously posed for a photo with me. Well, right around that time, a couple of middle-aged burnout sports fans started heckling me because I wasn't a Packers fan or old enough to have even seen Nitschke play... They were being pretty obnoxious to say the least. Next thing I know, Ray starts yelling back at the guys, telling them their comments aren't necessary and they don't know what it means to be a fan.

No one realized that Ray would leave us less than two years later. I certainly got more than I bargained for when I showed up at that card show for an autograph that day!

[skyking26]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

Aproximately 2003, and my son and I attend an event held in Detroit in conjunction with the Woodward Dream Cruise - a number of 68 Tigers were there signing.

All guys were free, 1 sig per. My son and I went thru, got our items signed, then put our items in the truck. I realized it would be cool to run thru and get a quick photo or 2, so we went thru the line. The promoter (a friend) noticed us and asked my to take some stuff thru for him. I said no problem. Next thing I know, Willie Horton is yelling at me in front of my kid because we were already in line. I told him this was for the promoter, who now was cowering behind things... He proceeded to berate myself and my 8 year old. I told him I did not give a damn if he signed the shit anyway as it was not mine. He finally said, "well, if it is for the boy..." I said, apparently you weren't listening" and left it all there.

Point: Willie Horton is a huge star, in his own mind. I didn't do anything wrong...

[joelsabi]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

I met Yuyo Ruiz at a card show in Chicago and gravitated to his display because of his Clemente collection. I had my camera on hand for the signing of Dan Marino, who i found out was a huge Clemente fan. Marino was even planning to come over to look at a salesman's sample of Clemente world series ring after his signing time was over. I was taking shots of Yuyo's display after being introduce to Yuyo by his nephews that were manning the displays. I told Yuyo what an amazing collection he had and Yuyo offers to take a photo of me with his display. I agree but before he take my camera he opens up the display case and before i knew what was happening he plops some plane debri in my hand. I had never felt so uncomfortable in my life but I took the photo out of respect to Yuyo.

I believe it was 1999 when i meet him. later Yuyo tried selling his collection and the Clement family were going to sue. I just looked up this article on the web:


NEW YORK - Debris from the plane crash that killed Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente was pulled from a memorabilia auction after his family threatened a lawsuit.

Seaford, N.Y.-based Lelands.com announced Friday it was pulling two items - a light metal piece of the airplane and a gray steel propeller - from the collection of four dozen Clemente mementos.

Clemente died Dec. 31, 1972, when the DC-7 he was on crashed after takeoff from San Juan, Puerto Rico. The plane was headed to Nicaragua with supplies for earthquake victims.

Clemente's family two weeks ago said it was considering legal action to stop the auction house from selling the airplane parts. Roberto Clemente Jr. said in a statement then that the family "will not tolerate anyone trying to benefit from my father's passing."

Lelands.com plans to return the light metal piece, measuring 19 inches by 14 inches at its largest point, to the collector who consigned the item into the auction. The propeller will be donated to the Puerto Rico Sports Museum.

"Just like hundreds of historical items that are on display in museums throughout the world or are sold privately or in auctions every day, these two items are of great historical significance," Lelands.com founder Josh Evans said in a statement Friday. "We believe that they help completely tell the story of Roberto Clemente, his philanthropy and the price he paid to help people in need. We believe that they should be on display to honor his legacy.

"On the other hand, the wishes of the Clemente family need to be respected and once we found out that they objected to the sale, we realized that the right thing to do was to remove the items from the auction," Evans said.

Other items in the auction, which ends June 24, include a glove Clemente used in a game in the 1960s; an autographed photo of his 3,000th, and final, career hit; an autographed rookie baseball card; and a photograph of Clemente getting a haircut from his hometown barber.