PC Help...GU cards really used by that player on the card? Or just chopped up bats?

[mightydon]

This debate probably has been circulating around the collecting world but I am curious. For instance I want to know when Upper Deck says on the back of their GU cards:

"You have received a Harmon Killebrew Game-Used baseball card. On the front of this card is a piece of memorabilia that has been certified to us as having been used in an official Major League Baseball game".

Is this just a blanket statement they write to cover their butts that the "memorabilia" came from a major league game but never to say who wore the jersey or used the bat? Sure Killebrew is on the front of the card, but did he wear the jersey or use the bat? Or is it a piece of jersy from the bullpen catcher?

Conversely, Upper Deck has GU cards that read:
"You have received a Game-Used bat trading card from the Upper Deck Company LLC. On the front of this card is an authentic piece of a game-used bat used by Hank Aaron in an official Major League baseball game".

This statement inheritantly states who used the bat while the first statement is very vague.

Can anyone confirm card companies using the term "memorabilia" or "relic" on their cards not being from that specific player on the front of the card? A lot of the cards I pulled from my PC are from Sweet Spot and SP Legendary Cuts

Case in point, 2009 Topps Triple Threads #TTR-79 Whitey Ford /36 "This is an authentic game used relic card of Whitey Ford from 2009 Topps Triple Threads Baseball. The relics contained on this card are not from any specific game, event, or season". WTH does that mean?

It does not even say the wood came from a bat, but it was game used....a piece of bench, stadium seat, or railing leading down to the clubhouse maybe?

I am really soured by this finding.
Don

 

[hatesgoats]

They are really vague...that is something I would be concerned about

 

[Tim Carroll]

Part of the Whitey Ford statement is to cover themselves due to the fact that most Ford GU pieces are coming from old-timers games/events at Yankee Stadium, etc. in which he never even really played a game. He appears, wearing a jersey. Then, they take that jersey and cut it up. Much different than actually using it in an MLB game (which is the whole point if you ask me!).

As for that vague statement that doesn't tell if the bat/uni was used BY THAT SPECIFIC PLAYER - I think you hit it on the head. Chop some bats, take some scraps, and put them on a card. If they get mixed up, that statement protects them and keeps their COA "intact and trustworthy"

Now, some are going to question....how would anyone know? Possibly in the future, a player that only used maple bats might have a piece of ash bat on the card. A lot of time and money would have to go into figuring it out - and it would be very pointless to do so. Especially since it is something we already suspect.


Tim

 

[mightydon]

I am digging a little deeper and opened up my Beckett Almanac, all 1320 pages of it, and I am finding some relief.

Although many of the cards I am looking up say "memorabilia" on the back, when I look them up in the Beckett there are notations of what part of the uniform it came from. This tells me that at some point Upper Deck informed Beckett of the whereabouts or origins of the game used material in question.

Here is my 06 SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Materials Silver /74 Babe Ruth jersey card now sitting in a pile of questionable cards. The backs reads "memorabilia" but Beckett states the material is from "pants".

07 Sweet Spot Classic Classic Memorabilia Bruce Sutter "memorabilia" on the back of the cards, Beckett defines it as "pants".

I am feeling a little better but...

Then again they can all be in this sham together and we would be none the wiser. You think there would be at least one whistleblower at a major company in this lucrative industry

Thanks Tim for the comments!

 

[jdshuskers]

I know someone who worked for one of the teams here in California who told me that UD would come into the locker room before games with several jerseys. They would have the player put it on, take it off, put on another one, and so on. This allows them to claim that it was "player-worn", even though they were new jerseys and only on the player for a few seconds. Who's to say that these aren't also the jerseys they are claiming are "game-worn"? Given the Topps bat/seat controversy with Tribute last year, I don't fully trust any of the companies and their use of "game-used" memorabilia.

 

[Kekamba]

I just returned to the hobby, so my 2 cents arnt worth a whole lot. However, Ive wondered has anyone ever seen a GU/Relic/Memorbillia or whatever. With a grass or dirt stain on them?

 

[mightydon]

I just returned to the hobby, so my 2 cents arnt worth a whole lot. However, Ive wondered has anyone ever seen a GU/Relic/Memorbillia or whatever. With a grass or dirt stain on them?

Yes, I have a Piazza GU back from 2002 and the pants swatch is dirty like he was catching that day...or slid into a base.

I don't remember seeing any grass stained GU but I would pay a premuim for one.

How about this idea....Sweet Spot Autos using GU balls that have dirt or grass stains on them. Could be a 1/1 auto as these were GU balls and not fresh out-of-the-box white leather.

 

[Kekamba]

Any way you could scan that card and show me? Id really like to see it.

 

[Loyalty32]

I just returned to the hobby, so my 2 cents arnt worth a whole lot. However, Ive wondered has anyone ever seen a GU/Relic/Memorbillia or whatever. With a grass or dirt stain on them?

Here are a couple Dawson's with dirt stains...





Here is a clean one for comparison...

 

[Kekamba]

Cool, thanks.

 

[mightydon]

Any way you could scan that card and show me? Id really like to see it.

Maybe you can take this pic and crop it to see it better?
Dirty Piazza is 3rd from the bottom on the left. I do not have the card with me or else I would take a scan just of the card.

 

[Droubaysports]

bad news for sweet spot.. they are not cut up baseballs at all but glorified stickers

 

[bear0555]

These statements have worried me some as I love game used cards. I noticed the back of some of the topps sterling cards do not specify that the material was used/worn by the player depicted. As a result, I have purged all but one of those cards from my collection. I've also been watching the 09 ultimate jumbos as they have shown up on ebay. They liked to cut the nameplate letters in half and can say that I have seen most of "RYAN" from the nolan ryan jumbos and most of "CAREW" on the rod carews. This leads me to believe that ud is just getting lazy with their wording.

Also, I recently purchased a billy williams logo patch at a killer price. While I was able to verify that the card has not been altered, I was not able to locate the origin of the jersey the swatch came from. For more details, check out this thread:

http://freedomcardboard.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1366274#p1366274

 

[David K.]

Case in point, 2009 Topps Triple Threads #TTR-79 Whitey Ford /36 "This is an authentic game used relic card of Whitey Ford from 2009 Topps Triple Threads Baseball. The relics contained on this card are not from any specific game, event, or season". WTH does that mean?

Some people thing it means....its not a gu used relics....However, to me and others....it means its a game used relics....but they not going to specific from which game, event or season. Best regards, David

 

[mightydon]

Case in point, 2009 Topps Triple Threads #TTR-79 Whitey Ford /36 "This is an authentic game used relic card of Whitey Ford from 2009 Topps Triple Threads Baseball. The relics contained on this card are not from any specific game, event, or season". WTH does that mean?

Some people thing it means....its not a gu used relics....However, to me and others....it means its a game used relics....but they not going to specific from which game, event or season. Best regards, David

So u think Ford even touched this bat?

 

[potvin48]

"Case in point, 2009 Topps Triple Threads #TTR-79 Whitey Ford /36 "This is an authentic game used relic card of Whitey Ford from 2009 Topps Triple Threads Baseball. The relics contained on this card are not from any specific game, event, or season". WTH does that mean? "


All that statement says is that you are holding a Whitey Ford baseball card.

If you remove the adjectives from that first sentence, you have "This is a card of Whitey Ford", which is true, Whitey Ford is on the card. It doesn't say he wore the piece you're holding. Someone did, maybe, but you'll never know who, and like people have said before, event can mean anything. The event could have been that 3 second wearing of the jersey for the UD rep...

Unless it specifically says it was worn by whoever, I'd guess it wasn't.

What I'd like to see next in the game used market is a specific date/game that it was used. Put a unique code on the back and provide a web site where you can input the code to see stats about the game, and maybe some video clips of the player in question. I definitely want specific dates the game was played on, and it would be even better if the photo was from that same game. I'm confident we'll get there, I just hope it's soon.

 

[nsucolonel]

Here is an articall about Donruss buying a Ruth Pinstrip Jersey in 2003 for $264,210. They bought it from the family. Maybe this will help yall a little.

http://espn.go.com/sportsbusiness/news/2003/1020/1642358.html

jason

 

[mightydon]

hmmm, how am I going to track down any Whitey Ford bat cards that say he actually used the bat...that is gonna be tough to ask each seller on eBay...since shows around here are few and far between.

I have a few Donruss/Playoff GUs that show the bat on the back of the card that the wood was taken from...that was reassuring. And I like that idea of the date or some code to we know when the game it was used in...we can read so-and-so went 0-4 in this game or belted a home run

 

[Kekamba]

That would be great, but dont some guys use the same bat over and over and over? Didnt Joe Dimaggio use the same bat through almost the entire hitting streak? Plus as nice as that would be they'd have to stamp every bat used. I dont think the hobby has that kind of creditinal. Plus some players might not be willing to part with thier favorite sticks, retired or not. I mean would you?

 

[Tim Carroll]

Plus some players might not be willing to part with thier favorite sticks, retired or not. I mean would you?

Money talks. So, yeah, I would definitely part with it depending on what they were offering!


Tim