Archive for Memorabilia

Who doesn’t love a good death threat? While this bit of sociopathy isn’t quite as beautiful as the recent lawsuit filed against P-Diddy, it’s still pretty crackin’ good.

Obviously, the best part is when threatener assures the threatened that the address on the envelope is indeed fake — just in case Mr. Smoky Joe Wood was pondering putting the fuzz on the scent or seizing the initiative and showing up for pistols at dawn.

Curiously, Mr. Wood wound up curiously dying at the curious age of 95. Suffice it to say, the Investigative Reporting Investigation Team is on it like something that adheres quite strongly to something else.

(Curtsy: Deadspin)

Due to the shockingly low wages here at FanGraphs [Editor’s Note: Jackie is as disgruntled an employee as you’ll find. Don’t believe him!], I often find myself shopping on clearance racks. Every once in a while, my consumer’s eye directs me towards the clearance section on MLB.com, and rarely am I disappointed. Sometimes, it’s just impossible to imagine how these items don’t immediately sell out, but here are four items which have somehow found their way onto the virtual clearance rack.

1. Aminco Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 2010 All-Star Game Disney Pin Set

Disney and the MLB know that cross-branding rules! After all, if you’re a big fan of both Mickey Mouse AND the 2010 All-Star Game, how could you resist dropping 40 dollars on this limited edition set? Well, now that the MLB store generously dropped $8.02 off the price, I’m sure it’ll sell like hotcakes.

2. Mascotopia Oakland Athletics Mascot Puzzle

I get that this for really young children, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a nine piece jigsaw puzzle before. Almost the entire mascot is on the center piece! I would think that if a child has sufficient motor skills to even put a puzzle together, they would be able to finish this is roughly two seconds. Obviously, then, at the previous price – $14.99, or $1.67 per piece – this product was a total rip off. However, at $1.11 per piece, it’s a steal!

3. New York Mets Men’s Reactive Robe by Concepts Sport

What better way to show off your fandom than with a bathrobe? Wear it in the bathroom, in the hallway, and in the bedroom! Amaze your roommates, significant others, and/or kids! Now $20.02 cheaper, it can be yours for only $49.97!

4. Fantasia Philadelphia Phillies Tool Bag

Although it’s understandable, the name of this product shouldn’t be confused with that of many Phillies fans. For said fans, this could be a very useful gameday item. It’s the perfect carrier for blunt objects that can be thrown at outfielders from the bleacher seats!

Between these four and other items, I’ll be shocked if people can’t make full use of MLB.com’s current offer: take $10.00 off any clearance order of $50.00 or more. With such high quality and practical items on sale, products will be flying off the shelves.

In case you’re not familiar with the great north, winters here are cold. This weekend, the heater in my century-old classic college house decided to stop heating the house on nights with lows of -8 followed by a balmy (a weather term which is never used non-ironically) 13.

Naturally, as the temperature indoors fell below 55 degrees, I found my extremities were extremely cold – specifically, my ears. Unfortunately, I don’t own any of the hats above – the Trapper 10 and Dogear styles on Lids.com. Not every team has an entry in these styles – for example, Diamondbacks fans are out of luck here. However, most teams are included regardless of their geography, as the picture above shows.

The Trapper 10 style features a logo on the wool front of the caps. However, the coloring of these logos is odd – multiple feature yellow on white – which makes it difficult to pick out just what the logo is. I do love this Kansas City Royals one, though, albeit not intriguing enough to blow 55 dollars on. The Dogear (44 dollars) is simply a typical 59fifty hat with, you guessed it, dog-ear like flaps to cover cold ears. I’ve found this style intriguing for a couple of winters, but unfortunately, none of the four Brewers styles really hold my fancy. For as much as I like wearing baseball hats, I can’t justify spending 45-55 dollars on an out-of-season, only good for winter hat. If I did, I’d probably be as broke as my heater.

What do you think: How would the School Sisters of Notre Dame, a Baltimore-based order of Roman Catholic nuns, celebrate the sale of their ultra-rare Honus Wagner baseball card for a cool $220,000?

Actually, don’t answer that question. It’s best left to the imagination.

According to The Associated Press, beacon of journalism, the T206 Honus Wagner card is “the most sought-after baseball card in history.” Produced between 1909 and 1911, only 60 of its like exist. Back in 2008, one in mint-condition sold for a whopping $2.8 million, the most loot ever dished out for a Cardboard God.

I know what you’re thinking: How the hell — please pardon the pun — did the School Sisters of Notre Dame end up with one of the cards? It was left to the order after the brother of a deceased nun passed on earlier this year. He’d held on to it since 1936.

For the bizarre story of what happened to the Wagner T206 after it was put up for auction, and how in the end it found its way into the hands of CARDiologist Dr. Nicholas DePace, I turn it over to the AP.

More importantly, have you ever had a look at Honus Wagner’s résumé? A career .414 wOBA, and 159 wRC+. What “The Flying Dutchman” did in 1908 was nothing short of absurd. Over his storied career, Wagner was worth 149.8 WAR. Jesus! (Sorry.)

Wagner also once famously said:

I don’t make speeches. I just let my bat speak for me in the summertime.

It spoke, alright. Loud enough for Wagner to rightfully become one of the first five men to be enshrined in Cooperstown.

Back to the Wagner T206. About Dr. DePace, who stepped up to the plate — that’s one pun I won’t apologize for — and bought the card after the original auction winner went AWOL, Sister Virginia Muller said it best:

God bless him.

Amen.

Image courtesy The History Bluff.

SF Weekly reminds us that freshly minted Oakland A Hideki Matsui is a man who loves his porn. This from an old Time Asia piece on the occasion of Matsui’s joining the Yankees:

Indeed, his only eccentricity, if it can be called that, is his extensive private library of adult videos. His refreshing ability to laugh self-deprecatingly about his porno collection, reporters say, is one reason why fans and even nonfans have taken to him so much. Says former reporter Isao Hirooka: “Hideki just wants to be like ordinary people.”

Just how extensive is ordinary person Matsui’s private library? Sketchy reports suggest he could use a librarian.

Hideki, I christen thee “Dirtyzilla.”

(Curtsy: BBTF)

Have you ever given any thought to what happens to a baseball bat after it breaks? After a Roy Halladay cut fastball in on the hands leaves what was once a pristine Louisville Slugger in two or three pieces?

Me neither, but good talk. I’ll see you on Tuesday.

In all seriousness, prepare to be wowed, as I was, because if you’re looking for the perfect Christmas gift for the sushi and baseball lover in your life, I’ve found it. You see, the Japanese, the fine, pioneering and resourceful people that they are, aren’t just tossing broken bats from the Nippon Professional Baseball league into the trash. Instead, Hyozaemon Corporation, Japan’s leading chopsticks producer, recycles the broken bats, turns them into miniature baseball bat chopsticks, adorns them with your favourite NPB logo, and sells them to you, the grateful consumer. Now that’s “green” I can get behind.

I don’t know about you, but after partaking in my very own baseball road trip of a lifetime this past summer, where I visited all 30 MLB stadiums in 55 days, my next baseball journey involves a flight across the world, and a visit to the Tokyo Dome. There’s nothing I want more than to sit back, watch the Yomiuri Giants, and eat some sushi using my very own “Kattobashi.”

That’s what the chopsticks are called; a play on “Kattobase!“, Japanese for “Get a big hit!”, and “Hashi,” good old chopsticks.

At the end of the day, I’m a hoarder. I own a ridiculous amount of Toronto Blue Jays memorabilia, most of which I have absolutely zero use for, but that I just can’t find in me to part with. Chopsticks that look like baseball bats? With my favourite team’s logo on them? For only $15.25 CAD, plus shipping? Oh yeah, I’d definitely buy that.

Because hoarders gonna hoard.

For most, championship runs are seen as time to celebrate the accomplishments of team and individual and to revel in the rarity of being the best on the world. For others – for the greediest among us – it is seen merely as a merchandising opportunity. As teams win their divisions and advance through the various rounds of the playoffs, apparel companies churn out more and more shirts and caps and other miscellaneous items. Not only does this new merchandise tend to cost loads of money, but it also make the items released prior obsolete.

The item pictured above (also available for the Rangers) is the authentic, on-field Giants cap with the World Series patch on the side. This piece of playoff memorabilia doesn’t suffer those typical symptoms. It isn’t garish, but it commemorates the event of the 2010 World Series effectively. Particularly as someone who enjoys the Authentic Collection, this hat would fit right in to my collection.

Most importantly, though, to answer the title question, the patch doesn’t significantly add to the cost of the hat. The standard Authentic Collection hat costs $33.99 against the $35.99 for the World Series version.

Playoff merchandise is probably my favorite subset of sports apparel, as it allows me to both support my team and gloat at the same time. As such, I really appreciate an appealing piece of playoff apparel, and the World Series patch hats certainly fit the bill for me.

The bat Kirk Gibson used to hit his walk-off home run in game one of the 1988 world series has two days left to go until “extended bidding” and now sits at a pretty $139,015.

In the world of baseball bat memorabilia, it’s fetching a pretty decent sum, but is still off by a factor of 10 when compared to the world’s most expensive bat: the bat Babe Ruth used to hit his first home run at Yankee Stadium. ($1.3 million)

The shirt Kirk Gibson was wearing while he hit the home run is currently at $129,690, while his road uniform for the 1988 world series seems a relative bargain at $6,050.

Personally, I think having a world series trophy sitting on the mantle would be pretty cool.