Paul Lukas at the National Sports Collector Convention

Uni Watch's Paul Lukas highlights some of the most interesting collectables at the National Sports Collector Convention.

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NYT: Topps Gets Exclusive Deal With Baseball, Landing a Blow to Upper Deck

Via Watchdog's Neil Best at Newsday:

Interesting story by Sandomir of the Times regarding MLB signing an exclusive deal with Topps for baseball card rights.

I had forgotten people still buy baseball cards, although apparently much less of them than they used to.

For those of you too young to remember the early 1990s, the baseball card market was a really big deal in the period preceding the Beanie Baby, real estate and Twitter bubbles.

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Gay Collector's Cards to be on Display at Gay Community Night at Citizens Bank Park

Not that there's anything wrong with that...



From the Philadelphia Gay News:

For Bob Szwajkos, baseball is more than just an American pastime; it’s his family’s pastime.

The openly gay Bucks County attorney began collecting baseball cards and other memorabilia as a child, continuing a tradition his father started nearly 80 years ago.

A portion of the Szwajkos Family Baseball Card Collection is currently on display in Citizens Bank’s Hall of Fame section and will be open for guests with Hall of Fame box seats during Gay Community Night at the Aug. 4 Phillies game.

H/T JoeSportsFan

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Pro Softball's First Superstar

Jerry: What happened?

Kramer: Well, you know, we were playing a game and, you know, I was pitching, and I was really throwing some smoke. And Joe Pepitone, he was up, and man that guy, you know, he was crowding the plate.

Jerry: Wow! Joe Pepitone!

Kramer: Yeah, well, Joe Pepitone or not, I own the inside of that plate. So I throw one, you know, inside, you know, a little chin music, put him right on his pants. Cause I gotta intimidate when I'm on the mound. Well the next pitch, he's right back in the same place. So, I had to plunk him.

Jerry: You plunked him.

Kramer: Oh yeah. Well, he throws down his bat, he comes racing up to the mound. Next thing, both benches are cleared, you know? A brouhaha breaks out between the guys in the camp, you know, and the old Yankee players, and as I'm trying to get Moose Skowron off of one of my teammates, you know, somebody pulls me from behind, you know, and I turned around and I popped him. I looked down, and woah man, it's Mickey. I punched his lights out.

---

I'd bet to say that none such shenanigans ever happened in the American Professional Slo-Pitch League where Pepi was treated as royalty.

Oh and for all you Philly readers and WIP listeners out there, check out who rode the pine for the Philadelphia Athletics club back in '78...none other than Ray Didenger:

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Philadelphia's B & G's Ice Cream & Sports Bar

Via Philadelphia's City Paper: "Ben Gollotti, who's been selling sports memorabilia for 35 years, opened this combo shop — collectibles and ice cream! — in the Italian Market two weeks back."

See also: Baseball cards and banana splits: B & G’s Sports & Ice Cream Bar (Meal Ticket)


B & G's Ice Cream & Sports Bar
814 S. Ninth St., 215-218-9923

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HHR: 1977: The Year of the Pro Slo-Pitch Player

The 70's was a different era. It was a time when a man was a man, and wasn't afraid to flaunt his masculinity.

It was also a time of cockamamie ideas as evidenced by the short-lived and ill-fated American Professional Slo-Pitch League - a startup founded by a gentleman named Bill Bryne that featured a dozen teams, including the manly Pittsburgh Hardhats, Kentucky Bourbons, and perhaps the toughest team of all, the Minnesota Goofy's.

Click Here to Learn More.

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Before They Were Stars

I came across a goldmine of unintentional comedy when I recently inherited a 1980 Philadelphia Phillies yearbook.

I'll be periodically scanning things in and posting both here and at HHR.

Before they were big league juicers and heart breakers, Bret and Aaron Boone appeared in the yearbook with their parents and younger brother, Matthew, whom they now affectionately refer to as the "Cooper Manning" of the family.

Simpler Times

I think this is a post that most Phillie fans in their late 20's-early 30's can appreciate.

I found this old program, and it flat-out made me smile.

First, it is from the magical 1993 season.

Second, it features autographs from Kyle Abbott and Ruben Amaro, Jr. - the two players the Phillies acquired when they rid themselves of the posterboy from the dreadful mid-to-late 80's teams, Von Hayes.

Third - I actually kept score. I can't remember the last time I did that.

Four, it was a victory over the division rival Braves, who threw John Smoltz that day.

And, finally, while he will tell you it really wasn't him who hit that homerun, Dutch Daulton had a round tripper that afternoon.

Your Crap

Reader Jeff the Greek passed along two of his most cherished collectibles. The first is the Cory Snyder autographed rookie card. What makes this piece so special is not the card itself, but rather the totally legitimate looking certificate of authenticity that DOES NOT look like it was printed on the office laser jet.


The second is this Jeff Montgomery sig. On the surface it looks ordinary. However, it was encased in "hard plastic" with a sales sticker on it that read "35.00 EA".

The Greek will neither confirm nor deny paying 35 bones for this beaut.

Sabbatical

Posting over the next few days will be sporadic as Mrs. McCromack will soon be in labor. Hopefully, Fat Willard and the chief can hold things down at HHR. In the meantime, here's come good reading for you GMT fans.

HHR friend Eric Angevine from Storming the Floor has stared a column for ESPN: The Magazine's online site that will focus on sports memorabilia and collecting. Check out the first installment:

The Auction Block: Profiles in Internet Sales Courage

Your Crap

the chief, ever the artist, passed along the following:

"Here's an artistic rendering of the Marty Barrett baseball i used to have."

Mr. 600

Just a quick post with some random basement finds to commemorate Junior's 600.

The closest I got to his '89 Upper Deck rookie...

I'm not sure what this is, where it came from or why I have it...

We Want Your Crap

I not only collect all things card-related, but most things sports-related. Here at GMT, I strive to not only provide you with crappy cardboard memories, but crappy memorabilia as well.

I threw up the Hug Signal at HHR to see who has the worst memorabilia, and the chief and Fat Willard were the first to respond. Their crap will be popping up shortly. But let's not limit this. We want your crap, too. Let's make this a 70s-80s-90s repository for sports-related crap.

Allow me to get the ball rolling, and I challenge you to top this before I break out the big guns...

Below is a 1991 Phillies Spring Training Game Program autographed by Mickey Morandini, Joe Boever and (I believe) Manager Nick Leyva.