May pickups

[vintagesportflips]

Thanks Joe!

[Teamgluck]

What an impressive display! I love the vintage game used helmets which are becoming very popular right now. To bad you chose the wrong Pennsylvania team

[Scott Garner]

Great stuff, Keith!

[vintagesportflips]

Thanks Scott and J.

[ksfarmboy]

Looks great Keith. Where's the white and green Eagles helmet?

[bigfanNY]

After winning an item in REA it was definitely NOT Foxx season but I was down to 3 for my 500 Home run Display and now am down to 2.

[Scott Garner]

One sub theme in my advanced Nolan Ryan collection is to find the game used bat of every catcher that was involved in a significant career pitching milestone(s).
Once I find the bat I have had the catcher sign and inscribe their game used bat- ex. Jeff Torborg 1000th strikeout and 1st no-hitter catcher, etc.
Since most of his catchers are fairly obscure, finding a game used bat for these guys has proven to be very challenging...

Some of you that know me may have noticed that I have occasionally posted on the BST looking for a Mark Bailey bat.

This is a collecting theme that I have chased since I first got the idea in the early 1990's. I have been successful at finding a game used bat for each of these milestone catchers. The last game used bat that I needed to get signed was catcher Mark Bailey of the Houston Astros. Bailey is not a common signer, so I sent him a letter letting him know what I was working on and asked if he would sign & inscribe his game used bat. He immediately responded and said he would be glad to do it for me.

This is where things got interesting...
In 2006 I sent Bailey a really nice example of his H & B game used bat along with return postage and a very nice thank you letter.
The interesting thing is that the bat was cleverly corked (ala Slammin' Sammy Sosa).
I noted that the end had been drilled out, substance inserted (cork or ?) and the end was patched up, repainted (in black) and his uni # 6 was written over the end. Of course I made no mention of this when I sent him the bat.
Long story short, he never returned the bat even after I sent him two additional letters, one containing $$. No bat.

It's taken me 9 years to find another one, but mission accomplished.
Needless to say, I will not be sending him this one. It's a nice bat with excellent use. No cork this time though.

[vintagesportflips]

Originally Posted by ksfarmboy

Looks great Keith. Where's the white and green Eagles helmet?

Thanks Clint. The white - green wing helmet is on one of my mannequins. That mannequin is wearing a 1969 Gary Ballman game used jersey, and a pair of 1969 to 1971 Eagles game worn pants.

[vintagesportflips]

Wow Scott - that's a cool offshoot to your collection. Congrats on finding another gamer, and sorry to hear you never got back the first one. That's a frustrating story.

[RollieFingers]

Originally Posted by kjjavic

Thanks Clint. The white - green wing helmet is on one of my mannequins. That mannequin is wearing a 1969 Gary Ballman game used jersey, and a pair of 1969 to 1971 Eagles game worn pants.

show the whole thing! and closer on helmet!

...and send me the helmet !!