Destroying Lou Gehrig's Pants

[IronHorse2130]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KFmR12PbxdM

What a shame. I could possibly understand if they were falling apart but this is tragic.

[Lucas00]

And they can't even show a Yankees logo on the cards. Garbage.

[ajenks3378]

Hurts me to see these cards and always has.
Pants i really dont have much of an issue with TBH…but just knowing that they do this to jerseys …or say they do …makes my head hurt
Andy

[icollectDCsports]

Originally Posted by ajenks3378

…or say they do …

Yep

[Smanzari]

Originally Posted by Lucas00

And they can't even show a Yankees logo on the cards. Garbage.

I don't even think they can show Lou, will be one of those number jersey images

[D. Bergin]

The nonchalance of saying the word "History" just before you're about to cut it up into hundreds of tiny pieces, gives me a headache.

Does anybody know where they sourced this?

Part of me hopes it's some bullshit "Coaches Corner" purchase.

[Casey2296]

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Hilarious that he is using white gloves to handle something he is about to destroy.
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[Topnotchsy]

In the 2000's, the card companies cut up some incredible jerseys from Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Gehrig etc. I collect the 'game used cards' that they made, but still, that is hard for me to stomach. I don't believe any card company has cut up a significant jersey in 15+ years (though I may have overlooked one).

I feel far less strongly about pants and almost feel like they are the perfect compromise. They don't have much presentation value whole (which is why they sell for a tiny fraction of what the jerseys sell for) and in a card, they look the same.

I do think it is amazing that one can own a card with a small piece of Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig or Jackie Robinson's jersey for a few hundred dollars.

[polakoff]

Originally Posted by Topnotchsy

In the 2000's, the card companies cut up some incredible jerseys from Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Gehrig etc. I collect the 'game used cards' that they made, but still, that is hard for me to stomach. I don't believe any card company has cut up a significant jersey in 15+ years (though I may have overlooked one).

I feel far less strongly about pants and almost feel like they are the perfect compromise. They don't have much presentation value whole (which is why they sell for a tiny fraction of what the jerseys sell for) and in a card, they look the same.

I do think it is amazing that one can own a card with a small piece of Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig or Jackie Robinson's jersey for a few hundred dollars.

+1

I could never own a Jackie Robinson uniform, but I can own a piece of it, and that's amazing to me.

If it were kept intact I'd be unlikely to see it anyway -- it would probably be in a private collection, or at some obscure museum somewhere.

It makes me sad to think they're being cut up but makes me happy that I can own pieces of these things, and as long as there are SOME preserved I don't see the need to preserve ALL of them. (What's the difference between these Gehrig pants and the ones that are inevitably at the HOF?)

[bbcard1]

I am sure I'm in the minority, but I'm completely fine with this. I wouldn't mind having one of those cards, I really wouldn't want the pants, nor I would not stare at the pants in wonder at a museum and ponder to myself,"The Iron Horse probably farted in those."

[NiceDocter]

I hate it. Especially with that great red stitched name. Put me in the minority here but I consider it a desecration. Cut signatures on cards can be cool unless they butcher the centering and cut off half the name as I’ve seen some times. What’s next? Cut up a 1952 Topps Mantle and get a little bit????

[tha-rock]

I agree with Topnotchsy and Polakoff. I like the GU cards, and its a way of owning a piece of a player uniform or bat when I could not afford the whole item. I have GU cards of every Hall of Famer that I know of that has a GU piece, except two that I am looking for: Walter Johnson and Billy Southworth.
If anyone has GU cards of those two HOFers they would like to sell, please contact me.

[yanks12025]

Game used cards have to be one of the biggest jokes in this hobby. Nothing like destroying historical items for a card. Probably less than 5 Gehrig pants left and now one is completely ruined.

Yeah I can understand it with modern players who probably wear 10 plus pants a year but leave the rare stuff alone.

[Beercan collector]

Originally Posted by yanks12025

Game used cards have to be one of the biggest jokes in this hobby. Nothing like destroying historical items for a card. Probably less than 5 Gehrig pants left and now one is completely ruined.

Yeah I can understand it with modern players who probably wear 10 plus pants a year but leave the rare stuff alone.

+1 and it’s not a piece of pants anymore , the Pants are gone forever .
And we’re taking card companies word that is what it is .
I don’t see the purpose unless you can collect every piece and stitch the pants back together ,
If somebody shows me a card says hey look a piece of Babe Ruth’s bat - I says prove it

[Topnotchsy]

I'm not one to tell anyone how they should feel about this, and I definitely think that cutting up GU jerseys is a real travesty.

I don't feel nearly as strongly about pants. I've been to Cooperstown. And I've seen a ton of pictures of people's collections over the 30ish years I've been collecting. In all that time, I don't recall ever seeing anyone displaying a pair of Game-Used Pants, except as an accessory to a jersey.

Looking at the market for GU pants, the Gehrig pants sold for $73K. I suspect, though obviously cannot confirm, that that price was due to multiple card companies competing for them. Certainly the top bid was from a card company.

A Gehrig jersey was recently auctioned at Heritage. The reserve for the auction was $5.5M. It did not meet the reserve, but IIRC, it was at $3M or so (someone can correct me). In 2022, a Gehrig jersey sold for $2.19M

$70K/$2.19M is just a hair above 3%. Meaning that, even with the card companies competing for them, it sold for 1/33rd of what the last Gehrig jersey I could find, sold for (and that sale was after the COVID peak).

Similarly, a pair of Clemente pants sold for $30K recently. Addie Joss's pants sold in 2019 for $12K (to a card company).

To me, and I'm not saying anyone should agree with me, the market reflects the reality that pants (like stirrups, undershirts etc) simply don't have the historic resonance that jerseys, bats, balls and caps have.

[Snapolit1]

Tough call.

Is it better that one dude with half a billion dollars owns a pair of Gehrig’s pants and has them on display in his house (to his close friends only), or 4,000 schlubs like me owns a card with a small swatch and hopefully a pin stripe?