Cubs envoke $1 buyback for World Series Rings

[whitehse]

Originally Posted by Leon

Maybe it's a lease? And if you wear the rings more than x amount per year you have to pay more.

Personally, if I was getting a ring with conditions I would just let the club keep it. And I agree, too many rings given out in the first place. A crazy number, actually.

Leon, not to disagree with you but if you worked in sports and received a ring with conditions there is no way you would refuse it.

From your first day working for a team you dream about that ring and pray that some day you will see one with your name on it. You see other teams come through and those who had previously won are sporting their rings and you ask to see them. You marvel at the gold, the diamonds, the sheer size of that piece of jewelry and you just know you HAVE to have one. You work your tail off and help the team in any way you can become successful knowing that if the team is ever fortunate enough to hit the pinnacle of their game, you will be rewarded with a piece of jewelry that others only aspire to have. Game seven of the World Series comes around and here you are, sweating bullets as the boys on the field are battling it out. You know you did all you could to give them the edge in this game be it by scouting, by preparing the video tape or even grooming the mound to give the home team the best advantage. That last out is made and your thoughts are not that you are the world champions but damn, when do I get my ring?

You then wait all winter after being fitted for the ring. You hear stories of what it will look like but nobody ever confirms it. Opening day comes and the pennant is raised but you still have to wait for your ring. The next game you see the players get theirs but still you do not have yours. Th excitement is building because you now have seen what the players have received and even though yours may not contain the same amount of diamonds or gold, you know its a worlds champion ring with YOUR name on it.

The day comes where all of the staff assemble on the field and you are called, one by one to home plate and presented with a box that holds that worlds champion ring with your name on it. You open the box and a tear comes to your eye as you realize this moment is the culmination of everything you and the team has worked for. You don't care that those sparkles are not diamonds because that ring says champion on it with your name on the side. Someone sticks a paper in front of you and tells you to sign it and you do, not because you want to keep your job but because you want that reward of a job well done. A reminder to anyone who sees that boulder sized ring that you are a champion and you made it to the top!!

I used to work for a major league team and saw my ring flying over the fence in 1984 when Steve Garvey hit that home run against the Cubs. I have a friend from my time with the team that now has three Stanley Cup rings and another friend who just received his Cubs ring this year. If he wouldn't be pissed at me I could show you the photo he texted me right after getting that ring and that grin on his face tells the whole story. I can tell you that after three decades with the team he would have signed away the rights to his first born to keep that ring.

Leon, please dont take this the wrong way but I can tell you from personal experience, you would never give that ring up if you worked for a team that won.

[ibuysportsephemera]

Maybe if they had given the employees an option? We will pay the taxes but have right of first refusal to buy it back if you sell it. If you pay the taxes, you are free to do what you want with the ring in the future.

Too late now, but it would have made for an interesting dilemma for the employees.

Jeff

[Leon]

I might change my mind but I am pretty sure I wouldn't take anything with strings attached as to ownership. It goes against my grain, sorry about that. I am confident I wouldn't want a ring that wasn't 100% mine. I don't do leases. And you mention he would have signed over his first born to KEEP the ring. But it's not his to Keep and he can't do what he wants with it......not my cup o tea.

Originally Posted by whitehse

Leon, not to disagree with you but if you worked in sports and received a ring with conditions there is no way you would refuse it.

From your first day working for a team you dream about that ring and pray that some day you will see one with your name on it. You see other teams come through and those who had previously won are sporting their rings and you ask to see them. You marvel at the gold, the diamonds, the sheer size of that piece of jewelry and you just know you HAVE to have one. You work your tail off and help the team in any way you can become successful knowing that if the team is ever fortunate enough to hit the pinnacle of their game, you will be rewarded with a piece of jewelry that others only aspire to have. Game seven of the World Series comes around and here you are, sweating bullets as the boys on the field are battling it out. You know you did all you could to give them the edge in this game be it by scouting, by preparing the video tape or even grooming the mound to give the home team the best advantage. That last out is made and your thoughts are not that you are the world champions but damn, when do I get my ring?

You then wait all winter after being fitted for the ring. You hear stories of what it will look like but nobody ever confirms it. Opening day comes and the pennant is raised but you still have to wait for your ring. The next game you see the players get theirs but still you do not have yours. Th excitement is building because you now have seen what the players have received and even though yours may not contain the same amount of diamonds or gold, you know its a worlds champion ring with YOUR name on it.

The day comes where all of the staff assemble on the field and you are called, one by one to home plate and presented with a box that holds that worlds champion ring with your name on it. You open the box and a tear comes to your eye as you realize this moment is the culmination of everything you and the team has worked for. You don't care that those sparkles are not diamonds because that ring says champion on it with your name on the side. Someone sticks a paper in front of you and tells you to sign it and you do, not because you want to keep your job but because you want that reward of a job well done. A reminder to anyone who sees that boulder sized ring that you are a champion and you made it to the top!!

I used to work for a major league team and saw my ring flying over the fence in 1984 when Steve Garvey hit that home run against the Cubs. I have a friend from my time with the team that now has three Stanley Cup rings and another friend who just received his Cubs ring this year. If he wouldn't be pissed at me I could show you the photo he texted me right after getting that ring and that grin on his face tells the whole story. I can tell you that after three decades with the team he would have signed away the rights to his first born to keep that ring.

Leon, please dont take this the wrong way but I can tell you from personal experience, you would never give that ring up if you worked for a team that won.

[murphusa]

Don't worry, there will be hundreds of "salesman samples" on the market to buy

[Dave Grob]

As time goes by, I wonder how may people will claim they were offered a Cubs WS ring, but declined because of the resale clause. Sort of like the all the people who claimed they were at Woodstock in 1969 or that their mom threw out their Mantle rookie cards.

Dave Grob

[sports-rings]

sorry, I'm late to this marvelous post!

While the employees had to promise not to resell the rings they are allowed to gift them to family members. And like it was mentioned earlier, there are probably no restrictions on family members selling them.

I hate to put a price on everything, but since we are discussing this, the employee rings will be smaller, and many of them will contain non precious metals and stones.

Non precious metal and stones, and a smaller size, will cause these rings to sell for less than $1,000 in the market place until enough have sold to satisfy demand and at that point, prices will continue to go lower.

Just look at the Yankee 2009 rings given to ballpark ushers and vendors. They can be had for a few hundred dollars.

[whitehse]

Originally Posted by sports-rings

sorry, I'm late to this marvelous post!

While the employees had to promise not to resell the rings they are allowed to gift them to family members. And like it was mentioned earlier, there are probably no restrictions on family members selling them.

I hate to put a price on everything, but since we are discussing this, the employee rings will be smaller, and many of them will contain non precious metals and stones.

Non precious metal and stones, and a smaller size, will cause these rings to sell for less than $1,000 in the market place until enough have sold to satisfy demand and at that point, prices will continue to go lower.

Just look at the Yankee 2009 rings given to ballpark ushers and vendors. They can be had for a few hundred dollars.

I can personally vouch for the fact that the front office rings are not smaller....



The information I have is that the gold content is a little different from what the players received but most everything else is the same. My contact is having his appraised by a jeweler and I can report back later his findings if anyone is interested. This is one beast of a ring!!