A really cool story of a jersey finding its home

[perlman9]

About a year ago, I bought two jerseys from a fellow board member, a Titans Wes Ours and a Seahawks jersey. I have had them for a while and am now narrowing my collection to Buccaneers, former Michigan State or Ohio State players. I am getting a Chris Sanders (OSU) and Aric Morris (MSU) Titans jersey so decided to sell the Ours jersey. It sold on ebay but the buyer backed out so I relisted it. I noticed today the high bidder was named wesexpress so I contacted them and asked if the bidder was Wes and if so, I would sell the jersey for $75. Sure enough, it was the player and he is very excited to have his jersey. Sometimes it is amazing how things happen and I went from being somewhat upset that the buyer didn't pay to realizing it must have happened for a reason. The jersey ended up where it should. Just thought I would share that story as I am sure other collectors have had similar feel-good stories.

[gatorcollector]

I got an e-mail a few weeks ago from Tony Rowell, an old Gator player who was a late-round draft pick by the Raiders. I have his Raiders jersey in my collection and on my website. Apparently Rowell's son did a Google search for his dad and found his jersey on my site.

Rowell wrote to me asking where I'd gotten it (Ebay). He said he did not have one and hadn't seen it since it was hanging in his locker. I wrote back and offered him the jersey for free. Haven't heard from him since.

[Neely8]

Very cool Jason. I bet you'd want a Laurinaitis if I can get one! John.

[perlman9]

I may be hitting you up again at year's end =)

[shoremen44]

Great Story... reminded to post one of my own...

THANKS

[Jayworld]

I have a similar story, as I have an extensive collection of Southwest Conference game used materials (jerseys, helmets, etc.), and I have three full or partial "tear away" jerseys, including Herring from the University of Houston and Eric Dickerson's white tear-away jersey. I also have the shoulder portion of A.J. "Jam" Jones of Texas, and I received an email from him about three years ago expressing an interest in obtaining the jersey piece. I wrote him back via email about a possible trade for an autographed photo or something, and I never heard back, unfortunately.

[sox83cubs84]

Gus Polidor was a MLB bench player who lived off-season in Venezuela, and was killed in a carjacking during the players' strike. Ozzie Guillen, then the White Sox SS, now the Pale Hose mgr., took in Polidor's family and has taken care of them since.
During the 1995 season, I worked a deal with the late Dick Dobbins for a Polidor GW Angels jersey that I was willing to offer to Guillen. I caught him before BP at a Sox game, and he did a triple-take when he saw it. He asked me about how I got it, and was interested in it. I asked him for one of his White Sox BP jerseys. He said he send someone out with it. Sure enough, about halfway through visitors' BP, a clubhouse kid came out with the jersey in a plastic bag, and tossed the bag to me over the top of the dugout. Guillen remembers me to this day because of that swap.:D

Dave M.
Chicago area

[xpress34]

Great stories!!!

On a similar note - but slightly larger scale - some friends of mine and myself did something here in Denver for Ben Petrick.

For those of you who don't remember Ben, he was a 'can't miss' prospect and up and comer for the Rockies in the late '90s who was a catcher by trade, but was athletic enough to play other positions.

Before Ben's career even got off the ground, he was stuck by Parkinson's Disease and had to retire at the age of like 24 or so.

Well, for all of their faults, the Rockies do take care of 'family' and they host (or use to host) a dinner on the field to help raise money to fight Parkinson's.

When my friend's and I heard about it, all of us who owned any of Ben's GU stuff (jerseys, hats, bats) gathered it all up and through a friend's contact, we were able to donate it all back to Ben and the Rockies and they auctioned it all off at the Parkinson's event to raise funds. I think all told, we had like 6 jerseys, about 5 bats and probably 2 or 3 hats...

Although it hurt to give up my only 'post 9/11' jersey (American Flag patch on neck over MLB logo) from 2001, it still feels good to have given it up for such a noble cause.

Happy Holidays All!!!

- Chris

[ironmanfan]

A pitcher by the name of Rick Henninger had the proverbial "cup of coffee" with the Texas Rangers in 1973 or so and one of the first GU tops I ever bought (in the mid 1980's) was one of his....I picked it up because it was inexpensive at the time (maybe $25 or so) and I played a little softball in it, wore to to shows, etc.

About ten years ago, I ran across it while doing some organizing and my first thought was to throw it up on eBay, but my second thought was to see if I could possibly locate him to return it..

To make a long story short, I found his address, dropped him a note and a few days later he called me to tell me that he would love the jersey..He told me that he had little/nothing left from his brief career and that it was something that he could leave to his children & grandchildren as a keepsake....Needless to say, it was in the next days mail to him (he offerred to pay for it, but I declined his offer).