Where do the basketball jerseys go?

[memorabiliaunlimited]

has anyone else noticed that compared to MLB authenticated baseball items, there are almost no meigray basketball jerseys out there for resale in auction houses, ebay, etc? there are obviously basketball jerseys out there, but i am talking about the good stuff, the meigray jerseys. for example, i have seen a number of trout, harper, and kershaw jerseys (probably 3 of the hardest baseball jerseys to get your hands on) in auctions houses over the past year or so, but yet i have never seen a kobe, lebron, durant, davis, irving, wade, duncan, harden, paul, curry (other than the one on ebay now), etc. meigray jersey ever for resale. why is it that baseball jerseys from the games top stars are resold by collectors at a seemingly much higher rate than basketball jerseys? i know there are some very rich basketball collectors who hoard TONS of jerseys, but do they really buy ALL of them? curious about other people's thoughts on this or if anyone else has noticed.

[CPuente57]

I've always been curious at this as well..i've seen some once in a blue moon but some players like Durant (dont recall seeing ever seeing a meigray Durant in auction) Lebron (remembered grey flannel had a meigray noche latina a couple years back) Kobe etc RARELY come up. Most of my Meigray jerseys come straight from them

[BarryMeisel]

Hi MemUn,

As the President and COO of MeiGray, and the who executive director of the NBA & MeiGray Program, I can tell you a couple of things that might help answer your question.

1. The collectors who purchase NBA game worn jerseys from our Program come from around the world, and are serious basketball fans who likely keep these jerseys in their collections for long periods of time due to the scarcity of LEGITIMATE game-worn NBA jerseys.

2. We do not pump out large numbers of game-worn NBA jerseys. We try to respect the supply/demand ratio so it works in favor of the collector. It is our view that having 40 or 50 or 80 game-worn jerseys a year of the top NBA players DOES NOT HELP the hobby. So we do not do that. I can't speak for other sports, but your question suggests that there are many more jerseys available for superstars in other sports. Based on what I see in the market, I think you are correct.

3. I can also tell you that our pre-ordering process allows collectors to reserve the top NBA stars so you can purchase them directly from the source, our NBA & MeiGray Program. All you need to do is give us a call or send us an email letting us know what players interest you.

Remember, MeiGray represents the NBA and its Game-Worn Program because we have proven to them that we have the interests of both the league and its most loyal fans/collectors in mind.

Hope this helps,

Barry

[memorabiliaunlimited]

Hey Barry - Jason Mastrangelo. I've made some purchases from you in the past, always a pleasure.

I agree, a lot of baseball teams will pull a ton of jerseys from each player each year, and it really hurts the market. I'm a huge Yankees fan, but the amount of jerseys pulled by Steiner each year absolutely kills the value of even their best players. Some teams, such as the Angels, rarely pull jerseys and they are tough to come by. Some players, like Verlander, keep most, if not all, of their jerseys and it makes them even tougher to find. The process for each team is very different and it results in widely inconsistent amounts of jerseys per player across the league.

But, regardless of how many baseball and basketball jerseys are pulled, they are still available to be purchased and resold. I believe some baseball teams may pull even less jerseys over the course of a year than you guys do. It is very interesting and curious how basketball collectors and baseball collectors appear to treat the hobby vastly different. It is great, and incredible, to see a whole subsection of the game used hobby value their items to the point where they dry up the market and unless you PREORDER, you may never have a shot at a players jersey during a certain year - I'm sure every Curry jersey this year will be totally sold out by preorders, if it isn't already.