Posted By:
jay behrensPeter, doesn't matter if these items reside in personal collections. It's selfish on the part of collectors to hide these great things from the punlic, but it is equally selfish on your part to think that everyone should have a chance to own a small piece of these items. What are you, a communist? 
Everyone had a chance to own these things at some point. It's a matter of who is willing to pay more money.
There also needs to be some point where morals and ethics override the desire for the all-mighty dollar. There are a finite number of these objects out there and if they all get chopped up, we will have nothing left for kids and grandkids to see intact. Your arguement of X number of these objects exists works fine for modern (post 1980) players since they practically wear a new uniform or use a new bat every day, but it's just not practical from a historical sense to chop scarce and items. I challenge you to find me one archeologist or historian that thinks it is a good idea to chop of historically and culturally significant items.
Jay
I like to sit outside, drink beer and yell at people. If I did this at home I would be arrested, so I go to baseball games and fit right in.