If you commit to buying, don’t come up with lame excuses for backing out……
 

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=331470

If this is how people are going to act on this Forum, it’s really not for me…..life is too short…

Jim, I have a possible solution that's a win-win-win. I trust both you and Howard. If Howard agrees, publicly in this thread, I would do this:

1. I'll PayPal Jim the money PPFF.
2. After Jim receives the money, he ships the card to Howard
3. After Howard receives the card, he sends the money back to me, PPFF.
4. When the deal is complete, Jim, I've got a few GU things/questions I'd like to ask you about, mostly general info stuff. Would you be willing to talk with me for maybe 5-10 minutes about GU shirts?

If this is of interest to Jim and Howard, I can send the $$$ immediately.

Hi Mark - that is very kind of you for sure….but he doesn’t want the card….he backed out for another reason - not because he was not comfortable sending funds via PPFF - because he didn’t even bother to check any references I sent….he complained that the links to auctions and GUU that I sent were old…..laughable….how many of you out here can say that REA accepts your COAs?? How many of you have had articles published in SCD ?? Not bragging…..just making a point…

Guess my 2,444 100% positive eBay transactions were meaningless as well…

Something changed for him which is fine - just don’t lie to me - and ask for references and then don’t contact them and just say you are not comfortable….I am not a bitter guy, but I just don’t like being lied to….

As far as answering questions - any time! Your name sounds familiar…..I always love talking GU Equipment….

Thanks again for your kind offer….reach out anytime on the GU stuff….

Jim

I figured he was just backing out, but thought my offer would remove any excuse he might have. So by him refusing it (assuming he does,) at least that seems to be established.

I certainly know your name as a highly respected GU collector and subject matter expert. I used to love the GUU forum pre-Goldin. I'll PM my phone number. If you have a few minutes to call and chat sometime, that would be great. Probably only 1% of us on this forum are mainly GU collectors, and you're one of the tops in the field.

Mark - thanks for the very kind words….off to bed, but I’ll look for your message and will reach out tomorrow if that works for you….thanks again….

Jim

I keep hoping someone will eventually take over GUU and bring it back to its old glory. GUU is the reason I switched from card collecting to GU memorabilia. The knowledge of those guys was amazing. We need a dedicated website for GU. I wonder what Chris Cavalier is doing now? Last I knew, he was with Heritage Auctions, but he wasn’t there long.

Holy cow - do buyers typically ask for this stuff? I've probably done 6-figures worth in deals here since I started and I don't think any of these ever came up (sans sharing my eBay name once or twice). I do mostly avoid gift payments (unless we've done previous business), and if I do send one, I will put it on a credit card

I’ve actually been asking to buy it but have had no response from the owners. Agreed we need a GU forum


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Wow! That's great to know there is interest of others to want to bring back GUU or a site similar. Love cards, but GU just doesn't get the love it should.
Thanks! Tony

Wholeheartedly agree with this. GUU was a great site. Need it back.

I met Mike Specht and Dave Grob on GUU. What wonderful guys, and so generous with their time and knowledge! And another treat was Bud Hillerich (of the famous bat making family) dropping in regularly to answer specific questions about bat order records. I have a Terry Felton GU bat, which is a real oddity because in the days of the DH, why would an AL pitcher on a team never close to post season play need his own bat? Bud answered my question, citing Felt's 2 orders of 2 bats each, pinpointing my bat down to the exact date it was ordered.

Those were fun days. Chris was a good guy too.

I check in on GUU daily, hoping to see somebody post. No activity. Brian Hillerich helped me with a few of my Arod bats. He was always willing to help anyone.

I remember when I first joined GUU. Just like many sites, when you're the new kid on the block, not much love. Got beat down over and over when I thought I knew what I was talking about. It was tough love, but that's how I learned and what made me want to pursue GU.

Fingers crossed it becomes a reality one day!

Yes, his name was Brian, not Bud. He used to get asked dozens of questions a month it seemed, and he answered every one. Mike Sphect had access to some of the shipping records and did likewise when he could. It really was a community.

But yes, I remember when somebody would post a picture of an item that wasn't right... there were people ready to bluntly opine what was wrong. Sometimes a couple of knowledgeable collectors would get into a disagreement, and I'd learn so much just reading their back and forth about why something was or wasn't correct.

I believe the whole "photo matched" thing originated at GUU, or at least, that was where it really took hold. One time Tim Byington posted a Bob Allison bat he had - and it was a clear photo match to the bat Allison was holding on a major magazine cover (Sport or Sports Illustrated.)

Hard to say when and where "photomatching" originated as part of the overall hobby, but it was a thing among game worn hockey collectors for a while before GUU was created. I'd venture to say that game worn hockey collecting community has been ahead of the rest of the game worn collecting communities in a number of ways.

Game Used Authority popped up about a year ago. It’s a bit different than GUU and hasn’t really become well known yet.

I actually thought that it was me that started it at Game Used Universe.

I had a Jorge Posada bat that I purchased from someone in Canada and they gave me the exact game in which they obtained it. I went back and watched it on TV and took photos (with an actual camera!) of Posada holding the bat in the dugout and matched up the grain on my bat to the photos. I posted about it and explained how I did it and people thought it was cool. Very shortly thereafter, there were people on the site offering photo matching services for a fee.

Believe you are correct on GU hockey and photo matching - and GU hockey seems to just be on fire the last few years….vintage GU Jerseys sell for a premium and I am regularly contacted by dealers and collectors to see if I want to sell anything…..getting tougher and tougher to find the good vintage stuff..

Relative to GUU, I am honored to have been involved with Chris Cavalier, Mike Specht, Rob Steinmetz, etc when I was a contributing bat expert for GUU…we attended several Nationals together….we helped so many people in the GU arena and provided clarity to what was legit - what matched factory records - what an index bat was - what was considered game use - number attributes - player attributes….on and on and on…..

The major dealers, authenticators and auction houses could not slide junk through like they could before….not calling anyone out - just saying a lot of suspect items came up in auction where our analysis had many items pulled, or had the description changed because of our work…..very proud of that….

Miss the old GUU - glad to see the positive thoughts and comments here in this thread….

Yeah, I’m a member, but it’s not interactive enough. Mostly, items are posted for all to look at. You can’t make treads, but you can make a comment in their chat or blog. Sharing information and helping each other is what it’s all about.

Talking about hockey, I’m amazed how much hockey stuff is posted on their site. I had no clue of the amount of hockey collectors.

Hockey posted: 9,030
Baseball posted: 3,638

Hockey is off the charts….been collecting GU hockey for years….there are a ton of collectors out there…..way more than baseball / football / basketball……not even close…

Jim,

Blew me away! I had no idea hockey collecting was so huge. Good for hockey!

Tony

That’s individually - meaning hockey is bigger than the other 3 individually with baseball a very close second…..you have to remember how large hockey is as a sport across the world….and for a long time….

I’ve been fortunate to correspond with collectors in Finland, Russia and Canada to name a few…..

Try to buy a 1980 USA Russia ticket these days…..very expensive…

If you see hockey GU collector/dealer Tom Coleman, tell that SOB (saying it like Costanza told the owners on Seinfeld) that we miss him on the east coast. :D

Attachment 577105

I’ll be sure to let Tom know!

Here is the type of work we did at GUU…….this is an article I wrote back in 2007 regarding team index bats….amazing it was 16 years ago……

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...luable-lesson/

As the owner of a Joe DiMaggio team index bat, I remember that article very well. Nicely written!

Yep. Hockey collectors were photomatching and using that term specifically for a while before GUU existed. For the past 15 or 20 years I'd guess, NHL teams have done a great (depending on how you look at it) job of washing various marks out of their jerseys, and players are issued more jerseys per season, but previously jerseys that would make their way into the hobby would often have a lot of repairs and other identifying marks that would make them particularly photomatchable. Vintage game worn hockey jerseys, particularly those that are "hammered" with lot of visible signs of use, are in great demand.

Thanks Jim! A lot of people learned about team index bats the hard way…..what’s even more interesting than that and I speak to it in my book, is that players in the 40s , 50s and 60s could order other players signature model bats…..

I found an Aldo Caravello game used bat back in the early 90s in an auction and I bought it - cool bat - from the 40s…my name is not very common and Aldo played in the PCL back then and never made it to the big leagues…my dad and I did a lot of research and Aldo was not directly related to us, but he couldn’t have been too far off the main trunk on the family tree..when I received the bat, I reached out to my contact at Louisville Slugger and asked her to send Aldo’s records….

Upon arrival, I found that Aldo of course had his own signature model bat just like the one I own, but he had several orders of Joe Dimaggio bats during his career with identical specs to what Dimaggio ordered in the 40s…..

So yes - there are Dimaggio bats out there in personal collections that a very, very distant relative of mine used…..and I am sure there are other players who ordered Dimaggio bats during their career as well - Aldo was a PCL player, not even a Major Leaguer….

That’s why identifying specific player attributes are so important when buying game used bats…

You are so correct about repairs and other identifying marks that make them easy to photo match….I’d say 95% of my jerseys are either photo matched, fight matched (LOL) or video matched…..lots of recycling back in the day - lots of nameplates not matching the year of issue because of the reuse….just lots of wear, tear, rips, repairs, stitching, stick marks, etc….

Gotta love game worn hockey jerseys….