My wife was going through some eBay auctions and came across this one <link>. Every once in a while there is a high end piece of memorabilia that goes up for auction on eBay and first I glance at it, drool a little, then start to think about who is going to buy this? Topps or Upper Deck? Next I think about what they are going to do to it once they own it. Then I get a little sad.
You see to make those wonderful game used cards of the legends, they have to take pieces of relics like this and throw it in the bat chipper. Can you imagine it now? The cut the bat barrel off and slice it in half and boom you have your sweet barrel relic for the next Sweet Spot product. Don’t think so? Look what they did to Joe Jackson’s Black Beauty bats:
Now think about this part of the bat:
Being chipped up so that a card like this can be made:
So is it going to be Upper Deck that destroys this or will Topps? Or maybe Panruss is going to be a late surprise bidder. A big 46 ounce bat like that should be big enough to supply bat chips for thousands of cards. Heck who ever buys it and chips it up could have a relic to draw from for at least 2 – 3 years. Does the idea of that just turn your stomach like it turns mine? I see items like this on eBay and think, who has $14,500 to bid on it? Of course that’s a drop in the bucket to companies like Topps and Upper Deck. I mean a product line like SP Authentic makes millions, what’s $15k – $30K to get people excited about the idea of finding a chip of Ruth’s bat in a card?
If this were a perfect world, we would have peace, love, harmony, and any piece of Babe Ruth memorabilia on display in either the baseball Hall of Fame or the Babe Ruth Hall of Fame. Destroying these peices of history to make a buck is in my mind the worst part of the hobby. When I see a piece of Ruth’s, Cobb’s, Greenburg’s, DiMaggio’s bat in a card, it just breaks my heart. Wouldn’t you like to enjoy the whole bat in a place like the Hall of Fame? I know my wife and I would, and I know that we are not alone on this one.
What is your take on this part of the card industry?
Meet your doom:
This is why I hate seeing relic cards. Old stuff should be preserved intact, whether in a private collection or on display in a museum.
New stuff tends to be used in “boring” relic cards. How much cooler would it be to have a one-per-case redemption card for a whole bat or jersey that it is to get your two-per-box relic card?
I’m with you, the whole practice of making the gamed-used relics is pretty crass when you think about it. Unfortunately, not too many folks have that kind of disposable income.
How are patch cards that you are getting into any different though. Yes, granted there are a ton of today’s players at Topps and Donruss’ disposal. But you could get a Ruth jersey card for what, $100. Yes, it hurts to see pieces of memorabilia like this destroyed, but on the flip side it gives average joes like us a chance to personally own a piece of Babe Ruth without having to break the bank. It’s always a double-sided coin….there’s good and bad with all. Personally I hope if the bat is sacred (ie a record breaking bat) they better not touch it as it deserves to live in immortality. If it was a Spring Training bat (which this could possibly be), I say cut it up and let me have a piece of it!!
I refuse to buy any of those types of cards. It’s just wrong to chop up pieces of history.
Couple of things: Joe Jackson’s bat was Black Betsey. It was not his only bat however. The one and only Black Betsey was sold at auction by the now defunct Mastro Auctions and resides in a private collection. It has never been used in a relic card. Also relic cards are the closest the majority of us would ever get to the real thing. I might get to the HOF twice in my lifetime.So no I don’t feel the need to have things like this immortalized in places where I may never see them anyway. The HOF has enough benefactors that if it was that important to THEM the items used in relic cards would never make it to the mfgs
If it makes you feel better, you could assume that the card companies aren’t using genuine material to make their cards (similar to the cut signature shenanigans). Maybe that Joe Jackson bat was just something they picked up at Sears. Has anyone taken their cards to be carbon dated (or whatever process might be used to determine authenticity)?
I’m against chopping the stuff up and don’t get the same thrill from owning a card with a piece of material that I do owning the same material. I also don’t believe that doing so makes it more accessible. For some people, a Ruth jersey card is as unfathomable a purchase as a Ruth jersey.
How would any of you feel about pulling a card with a piece of a Mantle rookie card or a Wagner T206 inserted?
I nearly cried when, I think it was ITG, chopped up the last remaining Georges Vezina goalie pads…
history cannot be replaced people.
If I find a card like this in a box, that’s one thing, but I would never bid, or buy, one of these stand alone.
I am not 100% sure where I stand. It is really sad to see some of these things destroyed like that. However, how many different game used Babe Ruth bats are there? The hall of fame will have some and private collectors will have some, but do we need a lumber yard full of them? It is nice that fans can own a small piece of history, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of destroying the last relic of a player or an era.
When relic cards first hit the market I thought they were a great way to spread the love – 99% of collectors will never own any game used jersey or other equipment because they’re just too darn expensive.
In fact, I still think they’re pretty nifty. Yes, there’s a ton of them out there now, and they’re no longer unique, but every time I pull a relic I still get a thrill.
There are tons of old relics in private collections and HOFs around the world. Besides which it’s the owner’s perogative as to what to do with the relic in question anyway. If a card company wants to purchase a relic in the open market just to put it in cards, I have zero issues with that. It’s theirs, they can do with it what they want.
The hobby cannot be everything to everyone, we’re all going to have sections of the hobby that we don’t like.
I agree with William. I agree that if it’s the last remaining of it’s kind, then it needs to be kept in tact. That’s a no-brainer. But personally, I like having a touch of history in my posession….I don’t think there is anything wrong with that at all.
Plus, it makes the remaining pieces that much more special. It’s even more amazing to make the trip to Cooperstown to see the Ruth memorabilia if you know that’s the last remaining handful in the world. All you fools taking chemgod’s advice and turning your late 80s cards into fire kindling are just making my stash worth that much more. Not too much longer, and I’ll get that lake front property…so burn away!! LOL
The worst is when you see capsules of game used bat “sawdust”…..has anyone found any video’s of them actually chopping one of these up? I checked Youtube, but found nothing