Does anyone actually have any interest in something like this?

[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.

[barrysloate]

Jeff- I know, it's corporate America.

And as far as accepting the argument that cutting up a Ty Cobb bat can somehow lead collectors of modern cards into vintage, I think it's a bit of a stretch. There are all these clever marketers out there who could find another way to entice them.

[Orioles1954]

Barry,

With all due respect, I follow both the pre-war and modern markets quite closely. I am certain my assertion is not "a stretch" at all. Several on this board are/were "shiny" collectors who developed an appreciation for vintage through modern game-used cards.

[barrysloate]

Sorry Adam, I can't put my arms around the idea that it is better for more people to own small pieces of a bat. Would it be okay to cut the Mona Lisa into a thousand little pieces so that a thousand rich collectors can lay claim to a piece of it? Okay, the Mona Lisa is unique, but I still hate the idea of destroying something so more people can own it. It doesn't work for me.

[teetwoohsix]

Thanks Dan & Bill for answering my questions.I have some of these types of cards,but they are all of modern players-Pujols all star game jersey patch,Piazza card w/bat & base relic,Randy Johnson game worn,etc.....I never put much thought into them,other than stick them away in a box with all of the other modern cards..........but when I hear of an actual Ty Cobb bat being butchered into little tiny slivers and inseted into todays cards,it seems WRONG.A Ty Cobb bat should have NEVER been destroyed like that.

[Chris-Counts]

Adam, I like your analogy to the Biblical relics of the Middle Ages. And like those relics that were so sought-after centuries ago, these modern-day baseball relics will no doubt appeal to somebody. I still think they're junk, though, and I'd rather spend my money on something that's truly vintage and real, like a beat-up T206. Not some 21st century Frankencard ...

[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.

[ctownboy]

Exhibitman,

Then I suggest, since you feel this way, that you immediately go out and buy a paper shredder and shred all of YOUR cards up and distribute the pieces to elementary school children because, God forbid, they are stashed away in YOUR house so that only YOU can look at YOUR cards.

David

[ctownboy]

orioles1954,

Maybe some of these collectors came to appreciate vintage cards because the vintage cards held or increased in value year after year, unlike MOST of the shiny cards that have been overproduced since 1989.

David