March Pick Up

[Scott Garner]

In 1999 I attended the 60th HOF Induction in Cooperstown that featured the extremely popular class of Nolan Ryan, George Brett and Robin Yount. This induction was, at the time, one of the most attended HOF Inductions in history.

As part of my advanced Nolan Ryan collection, I have always kept my eye open for obscure items related to this 1999 HOF Induction.

Up until a few months ago, I had never known that for many years the HOF annually takes a formal group photo of the entire group of HOF'ers that were in attendance at the Induction. The photo is taken over HOF weekend at the Hotel Otesaga that resides across the street from the HOF. These photos are given only to HOF'ers in attendance and they are presented in a nice leatherette folio.

One of those in attendance, HOF'er Bobby Doerr, unfortunately passed in 2017 and an eBay seller in Oregon has slowly been selling off the contents of Mr. Doerr's estate. I had noticed several months ago that the seller was selling these photos to other induction years that Mr. Doerr had attended. I inquired about the 1999 Induction photo, but at the time the seller couldn't locate it. That changed this week, as the seller finally let me know that they had located it & I added this to my Nolan Ryan HOF Induction mini-collection.
Neat & obscure, to say the least, as I've never seen another in 20 years of looking...

[doug.goodman]

Good one Scott.

[Bicem]

Great Sporting Records premiums Doug, I have the '15 Red Sox team shot (from the same find as your group) and a Cobb.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by doug.goodman

Good one Scott.

Thanks Doug!

[RedsFan1941]

what would you say is the most advanced item in your Ryan collection?

[Jim65]

Not vintage but I'm happy to add this to my collection Las Vegas 51s jersey worn by Bobby Abreu before his callup to the Mets in 2014

[ooo-ribay]

Scott is like a dog on a bone when it comes to Nolan Ryan stuff!

Congrats! Great pick up.

[CarltonHendricks]

This was a sweet pickup...about a month ago I'd had a very long day and about to pass out...any second I was headed to bed and I saw this on ebay...phew!...untouched in original frame with wavy glass...the only thing is the seller had gotten it on ebay years ago and didn't know where it came from or any history on it...I emailed Pryor Dodge hoping he would recognize the riders to no avail...I peered behind the photo but nothing...

Seller's reply
In regards to the history of the piece, I am afraid that I do not have any details on it, other than I too purchased it on eBay maybe three years ago. Have you taken the back off yet? It is something that I always wanted to do and never got around to it.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by ooo-ribay

Scott is like a dog on a bone when it comes to Nolan Ryan stuff!

Congrats! Great pick up.

So true, Rob!
I must admit though that adding unique Ryan items has really slowed down now, as I don't have many items on my Ryan bucket list at this point.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by RedsFan1941

what would you say is the most advanced item in your Ryan collection?

Thanks for asking.
I'm very proud to own several great game used items from Nolan's career:

-Game balls from 6 of his 7 no-hitters, as well as game balls from several key milestone games (19K game on 8/12/74, 4,000th K game, 3509th K game- passing Walter Johnson, 5,000th K game etc.)

-Nolan's glove from his record setting 1989 season in which he passed 5,000 career strikeouts, was the oldest winning pitcher in the All Star game & struck out 300 in a season for his record 6th time (Randy Johnson has since tied this record). Ryan game used gloves are really tough. I know of about 3 in the hobby that I believe to be real. This one came directly from Nolan, so the provenance is terrific.

-Nolan's final career win uniform (win # 324) jersey & pants

-Game used hats from the Angels, Astros & Rangers with incredible provenance