kingjammy24
05-06-2008, 06:16 PM
Game-used craze is latest way to fleece the fans
By MICHAEL O'KEEFFE
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
In the three days after Rafael Palmeiro hit his 499th career home run on May 8, 2003, at the Ballpark in Arlington, the slugger went through more costume changes than the entire cast of "42nd Street."
Palmeiro knew game-used gear from his arrival in the 500-homer club would be a hot commodity on the memorabilia market, so he ran into the Rangers' locker room as often as possible to change his uniform.
"It was tough, especially since I had to do it for several days after I hit No. 499," says Palmeiro, then with Texas, now with the Baltimore Orioles. "But it was a good way to raise money."
On May 11, against Cleveland's David Elder in the seventh inning, Palmeiro hit No. 500. Fireworks exploded over the stadium. The crowd broke into a loud, extended ovation. The bat from that plate appearance went to Cooperstown. Just about everything else he used that day - several jerseys and pairs of pants, bats, helmets and batting gloves - was put up for sale.
The market for game-used player equipment has skyrocketed in the past decade, prompting athletes and memorabilia dealers to take extraordinary steps to keep up with an insatiable demand for scuffed, sweaty and grass-stained collectibles. In the cutthroat world of sports memorabilia, that unquenchable demand has also increased the temptation for dealers, auction houses, players or their representatives to exaggerate, misrepresent or even lie about the historical importance of the items they are selling.
Some players, like Palmeiro, feed the beast by changing outfits as often as the girls on "Sex in the City."
And they have a fawning audience, eager for a link to baseball history or their favorite player: Washington D.C. collector Ken Mutzabaugh, for example, spent $7,000 for the uniform and equipment Palmeiro used in the second inning of his 500-homer game.
"Game-used equipment gives you a real connection to the player," says Queens collector Ed Schauder. "You want to believe you're getting something sacred and real and authentic. You don't want something that nine other guys also have."
But while memorabilia dealers and auction houses say a letter of authenticity signed by a player is good as gold, experienced collectors are wary. Many players don't keep track of their gear, so they can't tell the difference between a home run bat and a strikeout bat. Some memorabilia dealers can't resist the temptation to pump up their offerings. Game-used items are described as postseason gear; spring training equipment gets sold as regular season memorabilia.
"The reality is that some dealers are trying to get every cent out of every item they can get," says Jeff Johnson, owner of Coast to Coast Sports.com and a pioneer in game-used memorabilia. "Fraud is way too frequent."
San Diego-based FBI agent Tim Fitzsimmons says athletes are no more reliable than anyone else when it comes to memorabilia. "People need to do their own due diligence," says Fitzsimmons, who has been a part of major investigations into memorabilia fraud. "Just because something comes with a letter of authenticity doesn't mean it's authentic."
Mutzabaugh learned that lesson the hard way. Soon after he bought his Palmeiro gear through Clearwater, Fla.-based Authentic Sports Investments, he discovered that the helmet, shoes, bat and batting gloves ASI had certified as real weren't even used in the 500-home run game. The company insisted the Palmeiro stuff was as-advertised even though Mutzabaugh provided photos and a video he says prove it wasn't. After a frustrating 10-month series of phone calls, e-mails and letters, the company exchanged the Palmeiro gear for for Sammy Sosa memorabilia. "You don't know if this stuff is real or not," says Mutzabaugh, a U.S. Navy master chief.
ASI president Scot Monette acknowledges the company had to exchange Mutzabaugh's purchase, and he says it is taking steps to eliminate the problems that mar his scandal-stained industry. The company, for example, is creating a Web site for Alex Rodriguez that will allow collectors to verify items through its online database. "It's a very labor-intensive process but we've made that commitment because Alex is very committed to guaranteeing authenticity for his fans," Monette says.
Collectors, though, are taking a wait-and-see approach. Former Yankee Ruben Rivera was booted from the team in 2002 after he gave Derek Jeter's glove and bat to an associate of ASI, and the company's reputation in memorabilia circles is mixed at best. Mutzabaugh says he won't trust ASI's efforts.
"The fox," Mutzabaugh says, "is watching the chicken coop."
Before the late '80s, most baseball players got through the season with a handful of jerseys and two or three mitts. They used bats until they cracked or lost their pop. They may have kept or sold equipment that had historic or sentimental value. The rest was donated to charity, given to kids or tossed in the trash.
Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco, then teammates on the Oakland A's, were the first to sell and market their game-used gear, Evans says. Other budding superstars - including Ken Griffey Jr., Sammy Sosa and A-Rod - soon followed.
Demand quickly outstripped supply. Fans in North America and Japan showed they were willing to spend thousands of dollars for a glove or jersey from their favorite players; card companies buy game-used gear by the truckload, then cut it up and insert it into popular and pricy special edition collections.
"Ken Griffey Jr. got into it to help out his buddies, the guys he went to school with. He gave them the stuff and they sold it. It was a way to allow his friends and family to share his wealth," says Josh Evans, chairman of Lelands.com, an auction house. "The first wave of stuff was great. It was obvious he had that stuff for a long time. But then stuff started coming out that really didn't look game-used."
Rodriguez was another player who let his pals handle his memorabilia. "It was a good way for a young player to do business," A-Rod says. "There was great interest in it."
A group of his friends - known in the industry as "the muchachos" - soon became the primary source for A-Rod game-used jerseys, gloves, bats and other items. But seasoned collectors soon started to question A-Rod offerings - the muchachos, they say, did not seem interested in properly tracking and labeling his gear. Two years ago, for example, ASI offered a white A-Rod autographed Texas jersey from the game in which he hit his third and fourth home runs of the 2002 season. When Ed Schauder checked photos from MLB.com game archives, he saw that the Rangers had worn blue jerseys for that game. "That's why you have to conduct your own due diligence," says Schauder. "That's why I do my own research before I buy anything."
Other collectors are leery of A-Rod gloves. The All-Star infielder has long favored the Rawlings Pro-6HF model, a tan mitt with an H-shaped web, but other models have flooded the market, raising eyebrows.
ASI consigns some of its memorabilia to American Memorabilia.com, and earlier this month, the auction house sold a Rawlings Pro-AR3, autographed and signed "game-used" by Rodriguez, for $7,200. American Memorabilia advertised the mitt as A-Rod's "first game-used glove as a Yankee," but sophisticated collectors suspect Rodriguez may simply have used it for a few innings in spring training, then passed it on to his reps.
"That's just manufacturing memorabilia," says glove expert Dennis Esken. "Game-used means it was used in a Major League game. It doesn't mean A-Rod played catch with it."
American Memorabilia president Victor Moreno said he did not know when Rodriguez used the glove, or how long he used it. "I'm not going to question A-Rod," he says.
Rodriguez declined to talk about problems related to his memorabilia sales when approached by a Daily News reporter before a game in Baltimore earlier this week. Monette says the player has impeccable integrity. Some of the proceeds from A-Rod memorabilia, he adds, are funneled to Rodriguez' favorite charities.
"Alex is the type who always takes the high road," Monette says. "He wants to touch fans and remove the stigma of being the $250 million man."
Monette says a lot of the gripes about ASI come from rivals and that his company has taken steps to eliminate problems. The muchachos are gone, and the company now deals directly with Rodriguez, meeting with him every month or so to collect game-used gear. Rodriguez has become more diligent in tracking and labeling his equipment, Monette says.
And in May, the company announced it will create a Web site to sell autographed memorabilia directly to customers. Holograms will be placed on game-used equipment and other collectibles. Collectors can type serial numbers from the holograms into a online database, a program that will verify the authenticity of their purchase.
Rodriguez will also use the site to conduct live chats with fans.
The Web site will be similar to a widely respected authentication program created in 2001 by Major League Baseball, but Monette says it will have some significant improvements: It will include photos of the items being used or signed by Rodriguez.
"No one has ever done this in this business before," he says. "Everyone makes mistakes, but we've decided we can't make mistakes from this point on."
Memorabilia insiders, however, are reserving judgement until the Web site takes off later this year. The only way for consumers to protect themselves, they say, is to do their homework, research items that interest them, and make sure they're buying what they've been told they're buying.
"Nobody has clean hands in this process, even collectors," Schauder says. "A lot of people want to believe there's a Santa even when in your heart you know there's no Santa. If you don't do your homework, you're gonna get burned."
Originally published on June 26, 2004
By MICHAEL O'KEEFFE
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
In the three days after Rafael Palmeiro hit his 499th career home run on May 8, 2003, at the Ballpark in Arlington, the slugger went through more costume changes than the entire cast of "42nd Street."
Palmeiro knew game-used gear from his arrival in the 500-homer club would be a hot commodity on the memorabilia market, so he ran into the Rangers' locker room as often as possible to change his uniform.
"It was tough, especially since I had to do it for several days after I hit No. 499," says Palmeiro, then with Texas, now with the Baltimore Orioles. "But it was a good way to raise money."
On May 11, against Cleveland's David Elder in the seventh inning, Palmeiro hit No. 500. Fireworks exploded over the stadium. The crowd broke into a loud, extended ovation. The bat from that plate appearance went to Cooperstown. Just about everything else he used that day - several jerseys and pairs of pants, bats, helmets and batting gloves - was put up for sale.
The market for game-used player equipment has skyrocketed in the past decade, prompting athletes and memorabilia dealers to take extraordinary steps to keep up with an insatiable demand for scuffed, sweaty and grass-stained collectibles. In the cutthroat world of sports memorabilia, that unquenchable demand has also increased the temptation for dealers, auction houses, players or their representatives to exaggerate, misrepresent or even lie about the historical importance of the items they are selling.
Some players, like Palmeiro, feed the beast by changing outfits as often as the girls on "Sex in the City."
And they have a fawning audience, eager for a link to baseball history or their favorite player: Washington D.C. collector Ken Mutzabaugh, for example, spent $7,000 for the uniform and equipment Palmeiro used in the second inning of his 500-homer game.
"Game-used equipment gives you a real connection to the player," says Queens collector Ed Schauder. "You want to believe you're getting something sacred and real and authentic. You don't want something that nine other guys also have."
But while memorabilia dealers and auction houses say a letter of authenticity signed by a player is good as gold, experienced collectors are wary. Many players don't keep track of their gear, so they can't tell the difference between a home run bat and a strikeout bat. Some memorabilia dealers can't resist the temptation to pump up their offerings. Game-used items are described as postseason gear; spring training equipment gets sold as regular season memorabilia.
"The reality is that some dealers are trying to get every cent out of every item they can get," says Jeff Johnson, owner of Coast to Coast Sports.com and a pioneer in game-used memorabilia. "Fraud is way too frequent."
San Diego-based FBI agent Tim Fitzsimmons says athletes are no more reliable than anyone else when it comes to memorabilia. "People need to do their own due diligence," says Fitzsimmons, who has been a part of major investigations into memorabilia fraud. "Just because something comes with a letter of authenticity doesn't mean it's authentic."
Mutzabaugh learned that lesson the hard way. Soon after he bought his Palmeiro gear through Clearwater, Fla.-based Authentic Sports Investments, he discovered that the helmet, shoes, bat and batting gloves ASI had certified as real weren't even used in the 500-home run game. The company insisted the Palmeiro stuff was as-advertised even though Mutzabaugh provided photos and a video he says prove it wasn't. After a frustrating 10-month series of phone calls, e-mails and letters, the company exchanged the Palmeiro gear for for Sammy Sosa memorabilia. "You don't know if this stuff is real or not," says Mutzabaugh, a U.S. Navy master chief.
ASI president Scot Monette acknowledges the company had to exchange Mutzabaugh's purchase, and he says it is taking steps to eliminate the problems that mar his scandal-stained industry. The company, for example, is creating a Web site for Alex Rodriguez that will allow collectors to verify items through its online database. "It's a very labor-intensive process but we've made that commitment because Alex is very committed to guaranteeing authenticity for his fans," Monette says.
Collectors, though, are taking a wait-and-see approach. Former Yankee Ruben Rivera was booted from the team in 2002 after he gave Derek Jeter's glove and bat to an associate of ASI, and the company's reputation in memorabilia circles is mixed at best. Mutzabaugh says he won't trust ASI's efforts.
"The fox," Mutzabaugh says, "is watching the chicken coop."
Before the late '80s, most baseball players got through the season with a handful of jerseys and two or three mitts. They used bats until they cracked or lost their pop. They may have kept or sold equipment that had historic or sentimental value. The rest was donated to charity, given to kids or tossed in the trash.
Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco, then teammates on the Oakland A's, were the first to sell and market their game-used gear, Evans says. Other budding superstars - including Ken Griffey Jr., Sammy Sosa and A-Rod - soon followed.
Demand quickly outstripped supply. Fans in North America and Japan showed they were willing to spend thousands of dollars for a glove or jersey from their favorite players; card companies buy game-used gear by the truckload, then cut it up and insert it into popular and pricy special edition collections.
"Ken Griffey Jr. got into it to help out his buddies, the guys he went to school with. He gave them the stuff and they sold it. It was a way to allow his friends and family to share his wealth," says Josh Evans, chairman of Lelands.com, an auction house. "The first wave of stuff was great. It was obvious he had that stuff for a long time. But then stuff started coming out that really didn't look game-used."
Rodriguez was another player who let his pals handle his memorabilia. "It was a good way for a young player to do business," A-Rod says. "There was great interest in it."
A group of his friends - known in the industry as "the muchachos" - soon became the primary source for A-Rod game-used jerseys, gloves, bats and other items. But seasoned collectors soon started to question A-Rod offerings - the muchachos, they say, did not seem interested in properly tracking and labeling his gear. Two years ago, for example, ASI offered a white A-Rod autographed Texas jersey from the game in which he hit his third and fourth home runs of the 2002 season. When Ed Schauder checked photos from MLB.com game archives, he saw that the Rangers had worn blue jerseys for that game. "That's why you have to conduct your own due diligence," says Schauder. "That's why I do my own research before I buy anything."
Other collectors are leery of A-Rod gloves. The All-Star infielder has long favored the Rawlings Pro-6HF model, a tan mitt with an H-shaped web, but other models have flooded the market, raising eyebrows.
ASI consigns some of its memorabilia to American Memorabilia.com, and earlier this month, the auction house sold a Rawlings Pro-AR3, autographed and signed "game-used" by Rodriguez, for $7,200. American Memorabilia advertised the mitt as A-Rod's "first game-used glove as a Yankee," but sophisticated collectors suspect Rodriguez may simply have used it for a few innings in spring training, then passed it on to his reps.
"That's just manufacturing memorabilia," says glove expert Dennis Esken. "Game-used means it was used in a Major League game. It doesn't mean A-Rod played catch with it."
American Memorabilia president Victor Moreno said he did not know when Rodriguez used the glove, or how long he used it. "I'm not going to question A-Rod," he says.
Rodriguez declined to talk about problems related to his memorabilia sales when approached by a Daily News reporter before a game in Baltimore earlier this week. Monette says the player has impeccable integrity. Some of the proceeds from A-Rod memorabilia, he adds, are funneled to Rodriguez' favorite charities.
"Alex is the type who always takes the high road," Monette says. "He wants to touch fans and remove the stigma of being the $250 million man."
Monette says a lot of the gripes about ASI come from rivals and that his company has taken steps to eliminate problems. The muchachos are gone, and the company now deals directly with Rodriguez, meeting with him every month or so to collect game-used gear. Rodriguez has become more diligent in tracking and labeling his equipment, Monette says.
And in May, the company announced it will create a Web site to sell autographed memorabilia directly to customers. Holograms will be placed on game-used equipment and other collectibles. Collectors can type serial numbers from the holograms into a online database, a program that will verify the authenticity of their purchase.
Rodriguez will also use the site to conduct live chats with fans.
The Web site will be similar to a widely respected authentication program created in 2001 by Major League Baseball, but Monette says it will have some significant improvements: It will include photos of the items being used or signed by Rodriguez.
"No one has ever done this in this business before," he says. "Everyone makes mistakes, but we've decided we can't make mistakes from this point on."
Memorabilia insiders, however, are reserving judgement until the Web site takes off later this year. The only way for consumers to protect themselves, they say, is to do their homework, research items that interest them, and make sure they're buying what they've been told they're buying.
"Nobody has clean hands in this process, even collectors," Schauder says. "A lot of people want to believe there's a Santa even when in your heart you know there's no Santa. If you don't do your homework, you're gonna get burned."
Originally published on June 26, 2004