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sylbry
07-28-2006, 12:21 PM
UPDATED: Topps cuts up 1 of 2 known Gibson bats for Sterling Baseball Bat Barrel card

http://www.tuffstuff.com/Portals/8/TT_Images/04_JoshGibson.jpgTopps’ relationships with Josh Gibson, Mickey Mantle and other former greats is fueling what will be its most elite product ever, the $250/pack Topps Sterling Baseball that is scheduled for release on Oct. 11.

Topps is garnering attention with what it is calling in press releases “The Greatest Card Ever Produced?” – a bat card featuring the nameplate from a Josh Gibson bat that it says was one of only two known Gibson game model bats when the company purchased it. Topps announced several months ago that it had signed an exclusive deal with Gibson’s estate and says it announced months ago it had purchased one of two known Gibson game-model bats. Gibson Bat Relic cards have been issued in Topps Triple Threads and will also be highlighted in Topps Allen & Ginter. The nameplate on the barrel was saved for the Sterling brand.

“There were only two known bats of Josh Gibson’s available, and we bought one of them,” Topps’ Clay Luraschi said. “And now we’re making a bat-barrel card out of the bat, and everyone knows how popular bat-barrel cards are.”

Ted Williams and Roberto Clemente are other players who are highlighting the checklist. Put into each $250 pack is one player-touched Autographed Relic card or a Relic card numbered to 10 or less. All Relic cards feature three pieces of memorabilia. Each pack also has three sequentially numbered base cards, and all four of those cards will be of the same player. “It’s a player-themed pack,” Luraschi said. “And also within that pack is a mystery pack that includes a parallel card or a cut-signature card.”

Topps is successfully addressing the high end of the market, Luraschi said, even in a year that has been kids-focused. “The timing for this set is perfect,” he said. “With the response that we got to Triple Threads, we’re solidifying ourselves in the high-end market. We think this product has cards that are of higher quality, more collectible and more valuable than cards that have been produced in previous high-end products.”

trsent
07-28-2006, 12:35 PM
I am jealous of whoever owns the only other known bat because they will have the only intact one after Topps has their field day.

mr.miracle
07-28-2006, 02:35 PM
Completely ridiculous destroying a piece of history like this. Until people quit buying these cards which will never happen, the companies are going to continue to destroy historic game used pieces that should forever remain in their original state.

Joel is right, whoever owns the other bat has a priceless piece in their hands.

Brett

JimCaravello
07-28-2006, 03:24 PM
You know wha'ts really bad about all this - I bet 25% of what has been chopped up is no good - especially with jerseys. I know these companies try to buy from reputable firms - with proper COAs, etc. - but we all know that everyone makes mistakes and on top of that - I think a lot of bad material found its way to the card companies because the owners of that material could not get rid of it any other way. People own cards that have been made with worthless junk.........just my humble opinion on a Friday afternoon....... Jim

jboosted92
07-28-2006, 03:32 PM
Completely ridiculous destroying a piece of history like this. Until people quit buying these cards which will never happen, the companies are going to continue to destroy historic game used pieces that should forever remain in their original state.

Joel is right, whoever owns the other bat has a priceless piece in their hands.

Brett

just look at it this way, the rarer the bat you own....hope that these card companies get one like yours and cut it up!!

I have a Cobb and Hornsby bat..... The more of those bats they cut up, the rarer mine are!

mr.miracle
07-28-2006, 03:44 PM
I think Jim is absolutely right, how often do we see very, very rare items of HOF players that are made into jersey cards, bat cards, base cards, the list goes on and on. How many of these items could their be that they can turn them into these cards? I don't know how far a game used bat or jersey stretches for the tiny sample inside these little cards, but you have to wonder just how much of this stuff is authentic. How would any buyer ever know? People are paying hundreds and sometimes thousands for a baseball card and have absolutely no way to tell if the little swatch of fabric or bat inside their card is from an authentic game used item.

Brett Herman

staindsox
07-28-2006, 04:39 PM
I think the worst thing they've done so far was chopping up a Christy Mathewson jersey...there were three...now only two. Maye they will chop up the Mona Lisa or The Constitution so we in the collecting world have the opportunity to own a piece of history.

sicollector1954@insightbb.com
07-28-2006, 06:22 PM
Reminds me of the petition I signed awhile back to stop them from chopping up a Ruth jersey. The attempt was unsuccessful and now I believe there are only 2 of that year left. I even went to far as to ask Gary Carter about his feelings on the subject at a show once and he was in full support of it so more people could appreciate the opportunity to own a wonderful collectilbe! Even Ruth's grandaughter got convinced on it. Maybe as some have already stated--the less of the great finds there are leftout there--the more valuable they will become to the individual collector and the market price will rise overall.

metsbats
07-28-2006, 10:23 PM
This is precisely why I stopped buying baseball cards. One of the problems is the market is so saturated with modern baseball cards the companies need gimics like these to sell cards. The card companies did this autographed inserts and now due to the popularity of game used collecting chopping up rare memoriabilia. But I agree with Jim how does one know it's real? Like Beanie babies the market will crumple for these cards and the rare artifacts will have been destroyed just so these greedy card companies can add the their bottom line. Sacralege!

-David

34swtns
07-28-2006, 11:08 PM
It's beyond disgusting. And who buys this crap, anyway?! What real collector is going to settle for a tiny scrap of a gameworn jersey? If I can't have the whole thing I certainly don't want to be part of the reason it was shredded. I honestly don't know who's worse, the people doing the shredding or the people buying up the pieces. The only decent thing I've ever heard come from any of this was the Pat Tillman jersey being returned to his mother after being found in the to-be-shredded stack a couple of years ago. It never should've been there because that stack shouldn't even exist. :mad:

cjmedina1
07-29-2006, 12:29 AM
This is not fair.A bat like that is pretty much priceless and should be in the baseball HOF so it can be seen not cut into pieces so it can not be seen:mad:

Mike Grueber
07-29-2006, 08:57 AM
In my opinion, the destruction of historical artifacts of this nature should be a criminal offense.


Mike Grueber

EndzoneSports
07-29-2006, 10:52 PM
You know wha'ts really bad about all this - I bet 25% of what has been chopped up is no good - especially with jerseys. I know these companies try to buy from reputable firms - with proper COAs, etc. - but we all know that everyone makes mistakes and on top of that - I think a lot of bad material found its way to the card companies because the owners of that material could not get rid of it any other way. People own cards that have been made with worthless junk.........just my humble opinion on a Friday afternoon....... Jim

We've highlighted just such a case in a two-part article on our site's Game Used News page at http://endzone.pscoggin.com/newsarch.htm.

The first article from 7/29/01 ("Players Are Not Always The Best Authenticators") noted that the Craig Morton jersey being auctioned by American Memorabilia, Inc. and identified as having been game used in Super Bowl XII in 1978 predominately featured a Russell Athletic manufacturer's tagging style that didn't come into use until 1983--a year after Morton retired.

In an righteous twist of irony, our updated article from 8/25/02 details how this same jersey (as evidenced by the photo of the rear of the jersey shown on the rear of the card) was purchased at an inflated price by Donruss, chopped into tiny 1" squares and glued onto cardboard for distribution in the company's trading card products.

Regards,