Not Vintage, but I just bought a Piece of a Lifetime

[theantiquetiger]

For those of you who do not know, college baseball is HUGE down here in Baton Rouge and Skip Bertman is a baseball god!!!

They are tearing down the old Alex Box Stadium and selling it like they are doing Yankee Stadium.

When Skip retired a few years ago, they retired his number and put it on the left center field wall.

I just bought the sign!!!

I am comparing it to a Yankee fan buying Babe Ruth's retirement number sign (not in $$$ value of course).

I had to sell off one of my prized pieces to help pay for it, my Billy Cannon Hiesman Ceremony program :

[MGHPro]

Thats a great pick up. Congrats
Matt

[MacDice]

Nice pick up. I love college baseball memorbilia but you don't see much of it. My favorite piece is a Media Guide from when Washington State University went to the Collge World Series for their first time.

[theantiquetiger]

If you didn't see it in my first post on this site, I picked up these two LSU bats at a garage sale for $5 each. One of them was signed. I sold the signed one to a guy whose dad was one of the guys who signed it. These are from 61 or 62:

[sbfinley]

Sick purchase. Congrats.

[theantiquetiger]

It took two months, but I finally got it in. It needs work. They didn't take their time in cutting it out. The left side is uneven and the right side is about 10 inches bigger than the left. If you look closely, you can see where I have laid it out to cut. I am going to finish it myself and should be done tomorrow.

[drc]

Using my standard spoken language, I would describe that as "monster size."

[CarltonHendricks]

Very cool....I lean towards leaving it in the state it is....it sort of speaks to what it is and where it came from....Architectural salvage pieces are very cool and rare...I'd want it to hold the flavor...I wouldn't doll it up, just my opinion. Congrats, very nice pick up.

[Jewish-collector]

Nice item to see for Jewish player/coaches collectors like me.

[perezfan]

I don't think it would hurt to even it out and make it symmetrical. You don't have to "doll it up" at all... just do a better job of cutting than was originally done.

It looks like they just paid some "part-time" kid to cut out this portion of the fence, and that he did a haphazard/lackadaisical job of it. I would be disappointed if it came to me this way, as it looks like they put NO thought, time or effort into the removal of this piece. I dont think that the wavy left side and asymetrical cut do anything to enhance the value or aesthetics of this piece.

I personally would fix it (while cutting as little off that left side as possible) Just square it off and get the right even with the left. Just my opinion... though it's usually the minority one! Great pickup, btw.... Congrats!

[CarltonHendricks]

Originally Posted by perezfan

I don't think it would hurt to even it out and make it symmetrical. You don't have to "doll it up" at all... just do a better job of cutting than was originally done.

It looks like they just paid some "part-time" kid to cut out this portion of the fence, and that he did a haphazard/lackadaisical job of it. I would be disappointed if it came to me this way, as it looks like they put NO thought, time or effort into the removal of this piece. I dont think that the wavy left side and asymetrical cut do anything to enhance the value or aesthetics of this piece.

I personally would fix it (while cutting as little off that left side as possible) Just square it off and get the right even with the left. Just my opinion... though it's usually the minority one! Great pickup, btw.... Congrats!

To each his own, but still I don't think I would try to enhance it by squaring it up etc....It's an architectural remnant not a piece of art...I would want it to look like such. What if it was really messed up...like with part of the surface ripped up with bare wood showing....it wouldn't change a thing as to what it is....it would still be part of the stadium, and you'd be lucky to have it...it's not suppose to look perfect or symmetrical.

[perezfan]

Just a personal preferance, Carlton...

Since we seem to agree on 99% of everything else, it's ok not to see eye to eye on this one. And for the record, you have many pieces in your collection that I admire/envy as much as anything I've ever set eyes on. I just view these sloppy cuts as something done by a random worker (after the fact), and not something intrinsic or original to the sign itself.

I personally think it would look better cleaned up a bit, but that's obviously AntiqueTiger's call in the end. I respect your position on it, as I normally prefer everything in its unrestored state (from Stadium Seats to Bobbing Heads). Normally, I'm as "anti-restoration" as they come, and don't ever condone it unless a given piece is otherwise falling apart.

I just feel like this thing was already altered the second it was cut from the fence, so what's the harm in doing a better job of it? To your point, if the restoration work had any chance of chipping it or exposing bare wood, I would refrain. The restorer (AntiqueTiger) should be 100% sure he can do it in clean fashion before attempting any work on it.

[CarltonHendricks]

Originally Posted by perezfan

Just a personal preferance, Carlton...

Since we seem to agree on 99% of everything else, it's ok not to see eye to eye on this one. And for the record, you have many pieces in your collection that I admire/envy as much as anything I've ever set eyes on. I just view these sloppy cuts as something done by a random worker (after the fact), and not something intrinsic or original to the sign itself.

I personally think it would look better cleaned up a bit, but that's obviously AntiqueTiger's call in the end. I respect your position on it, as I normally prefer everything in its unrestored state (from Stadium Seats to Bobbing Heads). Normally, I'm as "anti-restoration" as they come, and don't ever condone it unless a given piece is otherwise falling apart.

I just feel like this thing was already altered the second it was cut from the fence, so what's the harm in doing a better job of it? To your point, if the restoration work had any chance of chipping it or exposing bare wood, I would refrain. The restorer (AntiqueTiger) should be 100% sure he can do it in clean fashion before attempting any work on it.

Oh sure...you say you're an "anti-restorationist" but it's pretty evident you're a southern sympathizer

[theantiquetiger]

I did end up cutting it square (and it is still huge). It was WAY too big to try and keep with cutting it (plus I sold eight pieces I cut off for $20 a piece to help pay for the framing). I squared up the sides and after realizing framing it myself was ay too big of a job, I had some one frame it for me. I decided to cut the top and bottom to match the sides because it was 6' tall. It is still 58" tall and wide. :

[doug.goodman]

It looks fantastic. Congrats.

Doug

[CarltonHendricks]

Wow, that looks fantastic....and I'm not even into contemporary stuff...good job....as for the squaring up...it now looks very civilized!

[Scott Garner]

Agreed! Excellent job of both cutting and framing. I would say that anyone would be proud to display it as a centerpiece in their collection. Congrats!

[perezfan]

Well done! It looks magnificent, and I bet you are thrilled with the result. Thanks for posting the "finished product"!

[metrotheme]

Nice piece. Here's a semi-off color joke. So now your wife can look right at the retired number when y'all are having some "fun".

[Jay Wolt]

It looks great, and if ole Skip can come over he's got a neat place to sleep.

[vintagesportflips]

The final result looks awesome. Great job! A great looking display, and a manly headboard to boot.

[ksfarmboy]

That looks pretty cool. Some pieces are so big it's difficult to figure out what to do with them. I bought these off ebay awhile back and still don't know what to do with them yet. They're the baseline pieces from the Wichita State Shockers basketball court. As you can see I'm missing some letters. I thought about framing them.

[theantiquetiger]

Originally Posted by Jay Wolt

It looks great, and if ole Skip can come over he's got a neat place to sleep.

I need for him to come over and resign it. The auction company just sent him the one section for him to sign and he stood it up sideways and signed it. The guy in charge of the auctions was very apologetic about the way it was signed. He also said this is the one piece Skip regrets not keeping for himself but was glad it went to a LSU collector, and not some guy that will re-sale it for profit.

Speaking of Skip, he is (was) a big time vintage baseball collector. About five years ago, his house here in Baton Rouge burnt down, including so very rare baseball memorabilia. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of a $100,000 collection.