Does anyone actually have any interest in something like this?

[teetwoohsix]

If it is an actual Ty Cobb game used bat,I don't understand the logic of ruining it to make a card?

[teetwoohsix]

Also,if it's a 1/1,where did the rest of the bat go,into the trash?

[JP]

And why isn't this encapsulated? Is it because it would grade a PSA 7 or 8 at best, and make it look bad? Somebody got PSA to encapsulate their Babe Ruth pants from this card series, and it came back a 7. Why not just have it encapsulated as authentic to protect the damn thing????

[barrysloate]

The concept of destroying a valuable artifact to make money is deplorable. Period.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

The concept of destroying a valuable artifact to make money is deplorable. Period.

It is hardly unique to this thing of ours. In the Middle Ages there was a thriving market for saints' bones and other holy relics. The relic cards remind me of that.

Now, as far as the card itself goes, although I personally would not pay that to own it, the item is pretty nice looking.

Philosophically, I am less than convinced that the "badness" of making these cards is clear cut. The dichotomy is not between a museum having the piece on display for the public to enjoy and its destruction, it is between an individual owning it and having it in his or her office or home versus having it cut into a lot of little bits that a few dozen people can own. If it really was Cooperstown or the saw mill, I'd clearly recoil at the idea of the relic cards. But when it is really just one guy bogarting the whole bat versus having it cut up, frankly, I don't care if it gets cut up. I won't own it or enjoy it if someone else has it hanging over his bed, so why should I care if it gets cut up and parceled out to a bunch of people who will treasure the collective bits as part of their collections. To me, that's a lot more collective joy from the item than it would give if some dude had it in his private stash.

[T206Collector]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

The concept of destroying a valuable artifact to make money is deplorable.

I found this sentence to be amusing and ironic because of the adjective "valuable."

We ought to be getting a little more philosophical in this thread:

Why is it okay to cut down a tree to make a few bats, but not okay to cut up a bat to make a few cards?

If only 1 person can enjoy the bat, but 10 people can enjoy the splinters, why not make 10 people happy?

If the bat was going to sit in a closet, but the card will be on display at a museum, does it matter?

Is Cobb's bat more important than an unknown player's bat? If so, why?

I have loads of questions about what really makes people tick about this particular "atrocity."

Mostly, I see a card like that and think (a) the price of Cobb bats just went up because there are fewer of them -- good thing I don't collect Cobb bats; and (b) hey, neat card, but I wouldn't pay more than $10 for it.

There is more than enough tragedy and art in the world to mourn the loss of anyone's baseball bat.

[barrysloate]

That's too philosophical for me. My take: leave the bat alone.

[tbob]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

The concept of destroying a valuable artifact to make money is deplorable. Period.

Amen.

[birdman42]

Originally Posted by teetwoohsix

Also,if it's a 1/1,where did the rest of the bat go,into the trash?

This is the only one with the signature on it.

There are 2003 Topps Tribute cards and 2009 Topps relic cards with a piece of a Cobb bat. (Looks like there are four different 2003 sets that include a sliver of the bat.)

Bill

[HRBAKER]

Merely a contrivance to lure people into buying immediately worthless product.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by teetwoohsix

If it is an actual Ty Cobb game used bat,I don't understand the logic of ruining it to make a card?

Because it's the only way the modern card companies can get adults to spend their paychecks to play the pack opening lottery.

[barrysloate]

Adam- artifacts like Ty Cobb bats are finite. There are only so many that have survived. Each time you destroy one that's one less that exists. If you love baseball memorabilia, and I know you do, that should trouble you.

After the Beatles stayed at the Plaza Hotel, their bedsheets were cut into little pieces and sold to the public. But a bedsheet is ostensibly worthless, and you can just buy another one. Ty Cobb bats can eventually run out, if you cut up enough of them.

[JP]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Ty Cobb bats can eventually run out, if you cut up enough of them.

Even if they cut up the last bat and no whole bats were left, there still would be 10 or so "whole bats" listed on eBay starting with the line...."my collector grandfather just passed away...."

[Anthony S.]

Hope that whoever buys that atrocity does the decent thing and releases it back into the wild.

[Orioles1954]

So what is the acceptable starting and stopping points for inserting bat pieces and jersey swatches into modern products? 1920s? 1930s? 1940s-1980s? What?

[barrysloate]

JP- that's funny, because as I was typing I was thinking the same thing. As long as we have forgers, we can never run out of anything.

Look, we all collect some form of vintage baseball memorabilia, all of which was made well before any of us were born. The only reason it still exists is because the person who owned it before us respected it and took care of it. We are all really just taking care of our collections until they are sold to the next guy. So there's kind of an unwritten rule that it is our duty and obligation to preserve this stuff. Cutting up an artifact of any kind is a sign of total disrespect for the objects we collect.

[HRBAKER]

Barry,
Very true but the card companies aren't in the business of respecting anything.

[Orioles1954]

I also don't think it's the worst thing in the world to afford a modern collector with limited funds the opportunity to own a piece of pr-war Hall of Fame material. As much as vintage hobbyists like to slag on the modern market, these game-used pieces have created many collectors who have eventually ventured into the pre-war hobby.

[Exhibitman]

Barry, I happen to disagree, although uneasily. I understand your point that once it is cut up it is gone, but to suggest as you do that anyone who takes a differing view of these cards doesn't love baseball memorabilia is a facile argument based on what I see as an overly-simplified and false premise. As I tried to point out, the issue is not a clear-cut dichotomy between preserving the item for the sake of posterity and historical research versus cutting it up, it is instead a choice between a rich guy owning a bat (which perhaps he might sell to another rich guy when he gets tired of it or dies) versus a lot of people owning a piece of that bat. I will never, ever own a Cobb bat unless I find it in a garage sale. I might own a piece of a Cobb bat in a card. If my choice is never owning something that is squirreled away in someone else's private collection versus owning a piece of that item presented in an aesthetically pleasing package that I would enjoy owning, which of those two choices does the most good for the most people is by no means clear to me.

I also would not dictate to the owners of these items what they can do with the things that they own. I know I'd not appreciate it if someone scolded me for putting a 1 of 1 card I own in the spokes of my bike. It's my card; it's their bat. If someone else doesn't like it, they should have outbid me when they had the chance.