Weird Collector Stories

[bigtruck260]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

1996

I am sitting along the stands at old Busch telling a buddy of mine about Ron Gant, one of the newer guys on the team. I think my exact words were - that dude is just cockstrong, and is one of the biggest baseball players I have ever seen...I kept talking about his physique and describing his pipes in a way only an affectionate fan (or homosexual stalker) could.

This little blonde lady walks over and says "I can get you his jock if you are interested" - with a straight face. I start stammering..."I'm serious, if you really want it, I can get it for you." Realizing what I must have sounded like, I started walking away awkwardly with my friend. Then she starts sreaming..."Ronnie! hey Ronnie! - Gant, who is shagging BP jogs over with his Oakleys and wristbands...and other 'star player' bling - and gives this lady a hug - AND a kiss on the mouth.

It was his wife. After making me feel uncomfortable, he signed my hat and offered me his wristbands. Already feeling like a turd - and not even close to collecting that kind of stuff, I turned him down thinking he was joking.

It was a good summer. I made some friends.

[yanks12025]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

Joel,
Do you have a photo of the debri.

[godwulf]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

I don't think anyone's going to be able to top Dave's "jock" story; nevertheless, it reminded me of something that happened a few years ago.

Scott Hairston was doing a signing, during his Diamondbacks days, and I was in line behind a young woman of about twenty, who asked him to sign a purple DBacks logo thong. No, she wasn't wearing it, but Hairston was still pretty embarrassed, and then she wanted another woman (it looked like it might have been her mother) to take a photo of Hairston, her, and the thong.

As she was walking away, I stepped up to the table and said, "Don't worry Scotty, I'm not gonna ask you to sign my underwear." We all had a good laugh, and Hairston said, "Good, 'cause I'm afraid I'd have to say 'No'."

[yanks12025]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

Godwulf,
Somebody should do that with Jason Giambi but with a gold Thong.

[mariner_gamers]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

1996

I am sitting along the stands at old Busch telling a buddy of mine about Ron Gant, one of the newer guys on the team. I think my exact words were - that dude is just cockstrong, and is one of the biggest baseball players I have ever seen...I kept talking about his physique and describing his pipes in a way only an affectionate fan (or homosexual stalker) could.

This little blonde lady walks over and says "I can get you his jock if you are interested" - with a straight face. I start stammering..."I'm serious, if you really want it, I can get it for you." Realizing what I must have sounded like, I started walking away awkwardly with my friend. Then she starts sreaming..."Ronnie! hey Ronnie! - Gant, who is shagging BP jogs over with his Oakleys and wristbands...and other 'star player' bling - and gives this lady a hug - AND a kiss on the mouth.

It was his wife. After making me feel uncomfortable, he signed my hat and offered me his wristbands. Already feeling like a turd - and not even close to collecting that kind of stuff, I turned him down thinking he was joking.

It was a good summer. I made some friends.

Ok, that was so funny I had to read it to my wife. Both of us are almost in tears cracking up!! Awesome story, thanks for sharing!!!

Davis

[joelsabi]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

Joel,
Do you have a photo of the debri.

i am pretty sure i have kept it somewhere in a box in the garage. if lost thats fine too since its not something i am proud of. i was considering buying some of the collector's rare photos but felt sick after taking that photo and left the area. you always want to be close to the player you admire but that
experience was too much for me.

thinking of auctioning off the plane debri is incomprehensible to me. can you imagine someone trying to sell building debri from the world trade center after 9/11? don't tell me someone did that too?

[yanks12025]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

Joel,
They want to collect it because it was apart of history.

Also a company did make coins that were 25% steel from the World Trade Centers.

[sylbry]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

This happened to a friend of mine.

He purchased a 1954 Topps Hank Aaron rookie from a seller on ebay. He was happy to finally get one until he received it and noticed it was trimmed. Six months later he listed the card on ebay with full disclosure that the card was trimmed. The card sold and he made a small profit. What makes the story funny is the original seller, the one who didn't disclose the trim job was also the purchaser of the card.

[sylbry]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

And here is one that happened to me.

Back in college my roommates and I would watch the local teams, have some drinks, and cheer for that not very good but tries real hard player. Players who we cheered for at the time were Chris Walsh of the Vikings, Brian Buchanan of the Twins, and Dusty "the moondog" Rychart of the Gophers (whom I went to high school with).

Later, I found a Brian Buchanan game worn Twins jersey on ebay. I bought it as kind of a joke Christmas present for one of my roommates. After I won the jersey I received the invoice from the seller. The seller was no other than Dusty Rychart, who was getting rid of extra stuff as he was moving to Australia to play pro ball in their league.

[suicide_squeeze]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

I even remember the date......

It was August 7th, 1999....

I was in Vegas, as I made about 3-4 trips there a year. Living in Los Angeles, and being a graduate of UNLV, my wife and I used to go ALL of the time.

I had been collecting for a few years now, and had made contact with Victor and Keita....if anyone here needs any more info than that, email me, but I am leaving last names (and their company name) out so I don't get sued. I was going to buy a few baseballs from them, and asked if I could meet them to pick them up and save on the shipping.

They were very gracious.....even invited me to their house (I don't even know if they're married....another thread). I'm telling you....it was out of a Herman Munster episode.

I walked into the house they ran their business out of (remember, this was early on in their companies existence)....some walls painted dark burnt-red, their was a guy dressed like a cross between Elvis presley and Vinny out of the Godfather, who looked like he may have been packing a piece. But he was real nice too.....

Here's the funny part......while I was checking out the baseballs I was emailed pictures of for sale.......Keita was checking out my wife....the whole time we were there! I heard her asking my wife "Can I get you anything to drink?"....."Can I take you upstairs!?" It started to become a standing joke there. Victor kept smiling and directing me away from them.....I kept one eye on Elvis, and another on my wife.....I think I ended up buying balls I didn't even go to purchase just to get done and OUT of there!

I picked out the two balls I wanted, paid, grabbed my hot wife, and got the hell OUT of there! We laughed about it for months....we refer to that episode as "Our Munsters vacation"....

From now on, I happily pay shipping.

[Ripken]

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.

David,

I actually held that watch in my hand. It was sold at auction by the Sports Collectors Store in Chicago back in about 1995. It was ICE COLD. One of the most eerie experiences I've ever had.

[metsbats]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

Many years ago I brought a Rafael Santana game used bat from a fellow collector. When I opened up the box I received a Bob Ojeda game used bat instead. Everyone knows a Bob Ojeda bat is rare and instead of asking to return it I offered the collector the same price for the Ojeda and he said yes. I eventually sent him payment for the Santana and ended up with both bats.

It was just a strange way to come across and obtain a bat which I was looking for to add to my collection anyway.

[cohibasmoker]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

Years ago, when the National Sports Convention was in Atlantic City, as a friend and I were walking around the show, we walked by a dealer’s table who had a slew of Don Mattingly items including more than a few Don Mattingly bats for sale. All of the bats looked game used but they had different prices on them.

Well, we stopped and as we were asking the seller his prices on the items he had, we asked what the deal was with the different bat prices? We come to find out that while some of the bats were game used bats, others were not.

As the conversations continued, the seller told us that Don had a batting cage at home and he would crack bats. The seller also told us that he thought the batting cage bats were pretty much worthless and that’s why he was selling them so cheap. We bought what we could and asked if he had others? We were astonished to learn that the seller had barrels of them at home – both cracked and uncracked.

Who was the seller? Don Mattingly’s Father-In-Law.

Jim

flaa1a@comcast.net

[skyking26]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

Interesting that the father-in-law was set up at a National making $$ off his daughter's husband... Unreal. Wonder how Don felt about that...

[cohibasmoker]

Re: Weird Collector Stories

Interesting that the father-in-law was set up at a National making $$ off his daughter's husband... Unreal. Wonder how Don felt about that...

I personally don't know how Don felt but the seller had a ton of signed Mattingly items.

Jim