Worst Missed Buy of Sports Memorabilia

[Andy Sandler]

What was your worst missed buy ever? For me, I can think of two.
First, in 1986 I was offered a 1919 Black Sox ticket stub for $100. As I was just engaged, I told the dealer that I wanted to run it by my future wife. Big mistake! She said sure but when I got back to the dealer, it was too late.
The other one was at the Rose Bowl Swap Meet in the 1980's when I was offered a Babe Ruth store model glove in its original box for $900. The seller would only take cash and I did not have that much on me.
Anyway, I am glad I can only think of these two instances.
Thanks for letting me get it off my chest!
Andy Sandler alwysyakn@aol.com

[sayhey24]

Mine still haunts me to this day -- I was offered the original desk that stood at the entrance to the Hall of Fame. It was a beautiful piece with carved balls and bats, but also had a lot of wear -- I waffled and when I finally went back to buy it, it had been sold a week earlier.
I did manage to buy a number of original signs and frames from the HOF, and have three of the original wooden frames that the plaques of Speaker, Sisler and Clarke hung on (All these items were sold by the Hall at auction in the late 80s before a remodel -- just things like this were offered -- no artifacts!)

Greg

[ScottR81]

For me was a 1910 E90-2 Honus Wagner PSA 4 sitting on a red table at a card show at a mall by my house about 10 years ago. Guy wanted $900.00 and I walked cause I already made my purchase for the show and figured I'd see it again the next time the show came to the mall....I never did. Now I see that card priced in the $5,000-9,000.00 range

[CarltonHendricks]

Originally Posted by sayhey24

Mine still haunts me to this day -- I was offered the original desk that stood at the entrance to the Hall of Fame. It was a beautiful piece with carved balls and bats, but also had a lot of wear -- I waffled and when I finally went back to buy it, it had been sold a week earlier.
I did manage to buy a number of original signs and frames from the HOF, and have three of the original wooden frames that the plaques of Speaker, Sisler and Clarke hung on (All these items were sold by the Hall at auction in the late 80s before a remodel -- just things like this were offered -- no artifacts!)

Greg

Man that desk...carved balls and bats?...excuse me? Phew! I can feel your pain LOL...how about the dirty details...how much was it?

This is certianly and interesting thread..although off the top my head the only thing comes to mind was an Estey bat I did a story on way back...Below a link to it
http://www.sportsantiques.com/EstesBatStory.htm

[sicollector1954]

I can think of one from about 15 years ago. It was a trophy belt buckle awarded to a Rockford Forest City player from the year 1866 for "Good Base Running". If I remember, the name was Charles Force but not positive. Opening bid was $800.00 on Ebay and no one had bid with 10 seconds left. Figured I would offer the person a little less once it did not sell. I was wrong. Someone bought it for that amount as there was only one bid and it happened with only a couple of seconds left. A couple of years later it showed up in a Hunt Sports Auction and sold for around $4500.00. Being from Rockford, Illinois, I could have owned one of the oldest pieces of baseball memorabilia in my fair city and I should have seriously bid when I had the chance. If someone out there has it--congratulations on a great piece of early baseball memorabilia and if you ever want to let it go--please get in touch with me!

[steve B]

I've passed up a few baseball things, probably more than I can think of. Stuff was much cheaper late 70's-early 80's.

The 1912 Red Sox World Series pennant sticks in my mind.

I was underbidder on Ebay for a bicycle built for Lothar Thoms that was intended for the 1984 Olympics. Being from East Germany he didn't compete. I probably bid around 500 as it was just the frame and in pretty rough shape.
It's been restored, and has changed hands two or three times since, most recently for 13,000.

Steve B

[stone193]

1952 Topps 5 cent pack for around 1600 bucks back in the 90s. Was a great source - from 8 pack cellos - so in superb shape.

Got outbid on a really nice Jack Norworth signed 1908 Take Me Out to the Ball Game sheet music. Underestimated the final hammer.

A really cool baseball gumball machine in superb condition - didn't bid.

1940s exhibit card vending machines in the early 2000s - they sold in the 1500-2000 range.

[71buc]

In the early 90’s I went to a local card shop and found four large stacks of the WG4 Polo Grounds cards. At the time my interest in pre war cards was minimal. They were the only vintage cards in the shop and it was unusual for him to have such cards in his inventory. I have no idea where he obtained them. Nonetheless I thumbed through the stack and he had multiples of all of them. The condition of the cards was outstanding. He wanted 25 dollars for the Joe Jackson. Being a small minded hall of fame collector I purchased Cobb, Wagner, and Collins instead for 20 dollars each. I didn't buy the others as I thought three examples from the set were enough or my collection. He was asking 20 for HOFers and selling the commons for 5 dollars each. He even had the original box. They remained in his case for two years before he eventually closed his store and disappeared taking those Jacksons with him. I was in that store many times during that time and never gave those cards a second look. Oh well live and learn. At least I picked up the three and was smart enough to hold on to them. I still kick myself for being so short sighted. To this day I have no idea where he went. I am posting these pictures to give an idea of the average condition of those cards I passed on.

[CarltonHendricks]

Originally Posted by sicollector1954

I can think of one from about 15 years ago. It was a trophy belt buckle awarded to a Rockford Forest City player from the year 1866 for "Good Base Running". If I remember, the name was Charles Force but not positive. Opening bid was $800.00 on Ebay and no one had bid with 10 seconds left. Figured I would offer the person a little less once it did not sell. I was wrong. Someone bought it for that amount as there was only one bid and it happened with only a couple of seconds left. A couple of years later it showed up in a Hunt Sports Auction and sold for around $4500.00. Being from Rockford, Illinois, I could have owned one of the oldest pieces of baseball memorabilia in my fair city and I should have seriously bid when I had the chance. If someone out there has it--congratulations on a great piece of early baseball memorabilia and if you ever want to let it go--please get in touch with me!

Wow on that 1866 Rockford Forest City trophy belt buckle...that was a real could'a-should'a...I believe Albert Spalding played for them in 1866...alright alright I won't rub salt in the wound. Really that was a learning curve we're all subject to, so don't feel bad

[packs]

Last year a seller on eBay was selling a Smokey Joe Wood signed baseball and Joe had signed it on the sweet spot. The seller wanted $100 for it. I ended up passing because the ball had two or three other signatures on it. Haven't seen a signed ball since. Still wish I bought it.

[robedits]

I can only think of one. My mom's uncle was Nap Rucker, the BKLYN pitcher in the early part of the 20th century. Only visited him once, in Georgia,on his "plantation" in the late 60s (I was around 9 yrs old,and he must have been in his late 80s by then). At the time I think he worked as an executive for a bank,but he had a lot of land.
Anyway,he gave my brother and me a glove (which was worn and hanging on a hook in his shed),and an old Dodgers cap. After I begged,he gave my mom his Dodgers windbreaker and uniform shirt (as I remember,he had several of each of these things all over the place in his gigantic house,along with many other trophies and such).
I still have the cap. |
Without my knowledge,my mother gave the uniform shirt AND windbreaker to my brother to sell when he fell on hard times 20 or so years ago, and unknown to me he then stored many of his belongings in a storage center in queens,NY (we didnt talk much then;still don't to this day; he was nothing but trouble.)
He wound up losing his storage place when he didnt pay the bills...including the glove and uniform AND windbreaker.
THis all happened within a month, and I didnt find any of this out until I visited my mom's house about a month after that. She had never told me on the phone about giving the precious family mementos to my brother.
Apparently all he had to do was pay $100 in back rentals. So,in effect,he lost these momentos (along with many personal belongings) for a lousy $100.
I would at the time have gladly purchased the stuff from him for much more than that...but we hardly talked so that was that.
Can't imagine how much those would be worth today,20 yrs later. If I had had them then,I never would have sold them and would have kept them in the family.

[scmavl]

Mine is a little different...
One of my regular customers at my previous job (a bank) a few years ago was Don Thompson, who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers from '50-54. He came in once every week or two and met with me for about an hour or so. At the time, I wasn't really interested in baseball so even though a couple of times we talked about the WS ring he still wore, I never asked him about his playing days (I knew he was more of a "second stringer"). I just didn't realize at the time some of the stories he could've told me. Here's a story Don told that was printed in an online obituary for him when he died two years ago. This is from Game 4 of the '53 World Series:

"Clem Labine was pitching, he came in for relief. Billy Martin was on second base with two outs. Mantle hit a line drive over Pee Wee’s head. He was hitting left-handed, so I was playing him a little around towards right. He hit the line drive and of course Martin took off, there being two outs. Anyway, I saw Martin running, [3rd base coach] Frankie Crosetti was waving him home. I looked up and I turned it loose. Billy Cox let it go or it would have hit him right in the head. It was about that high. Campy had him by several feet. Martin bent over and tried to knock Campy down. Campy sidestepped him with the ball in his mitt, hit him under the neck and turned him a flip. That was the last out of the game. I replaced Jackie Robinson both games. He could handle the outfield pretty well, but he wasn’t used to it."

So I missed out on verbal memorabilia which, IMO, is priceless.

[milkit1]

nap rucker! cool! do you have a picture of the hat?

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by robedits

I can only think of one. My mom's uncle was Nap Rucker, the BKLYN pitcher in the early part of the 20th century. Only visited him once, in Georgia,on his "plantation" in the late 60s (I was around 9 yrs old,and he must have been in his late 80s by then). At the time I think he worked as an executive for a bank,but he had a lot of land.
Anyway,he gave my brother and me a glove (which was worn and hanging on a hook in his shed),and an old Dodgers cap. After I begged,he gave my mom his Dodgers windbreaker and uniform shirt (as I remember,he had several of each of these things all over the place in his gigantic house,along with many other trophies and such).
I still have the cap. |
Without my knowledge,my mother gave the uniform shirt AND windbreaker to my brother to sell when he fell on hard times 20 or so years ago, and unknown to me he then stored many of his belongings in a storage center in queens,NY (we didnt talk much then;still don't to this day; he was nothing but trouble.)
He wound up losing his storage place when he didnt pay the bills...including the glove and uniform AND windbreaker.
THis all happened within a month, and I didnt find any of this out until I visited my mom's house about a month after that. She had never told me on the phone about giving the precious family mementos to my brother.
Apparently all he had to do was pay $100 in back rentals. So,in effect,he lost these momentos (along with many personal belongings) for a lousy $100.
I would at the time have gladly purchased the stuff from him for much more than that...but we hardly talked so that was that.
Can't imagine how much those would be worth today,20 yrs later. If I had had them then,I never would have sold them and would have kept them in the family.

when I was married, I lived in Alpharetta, Georgia - Nap Rucker was once the mayor there. In the '40s he was a scout for Brooklyn - I have a page of his hand-written scouting notes.

It's not much solace, but at least you still have the memories - great story. Unfortunately, most of us have stories where a relative has done something like this, generally unintentional. My brother was telling me recently that all of the baseball cards I gave him when he was a little tike (mostly HOF'ers from the '60s), mysteriously disappeared when Mom stored our childhood belongings with a family 'friend' who apparently had children who didn't have much integrity. When my Dad was a child, his drunken uncle spent my grandfather's silver coin collection (1800's/early 1900's) on booze. I was dumb enough to toss out my card collection all by myself, when I became a 'grown up' at age 12. Now I find out I'm still not a grown-up

[margoaepi]

I only really got back into collecting about 3 years ago. There is a local flea that I sometimes hit up if I am bored and the wife is otherwise occupied. When I was first getting involved again a dealer had a 1930's era scrapbook of various baseball clippings, and what turned out to be a near complete set of Butterfinger premiums, including Ruth. He wanted $200, and probably would have come down. I walked away, did some grocery shopping, went home, reconsidered, and by the time I got back it was long gone. Lesson learned the hard way.

[Exhibitman]

I will always regret not doing whatever it took to buy a T206 Wagner about 20 years ago. The biggest bone-headed maneuvers I can recall both happened at one National on a Tuesday: (1) having a stack of 1918 Zeenuts in my hand, and not even bothering to ask a price because there wasn't an O'Doul in there [later found out the price was very, very low per card], and (2) seeing a couple of E121 Henry Johnson backs for sale at the same price as regular cards but not buying them because I don't collect them even though I knew they were tough to find. D'oh!

[jsage]

It is not very vintage - but not buying the 1986 Fleer Basketball Wax Boxes at Costco for $10 per box. When they were first issued, they had big supply.

Like most of us, I was a "Baseball Purist" and thinking -who would want to collect Basketball Cards?
At that time most people did not realize the Jordan rookie would quickly escalate to $1,000 for a top graded card...................

[vintagechris]

My big regret was 1992. I had put an ad in the local paper buying cards. Someone responded saying they had a Tony Gwynn Minor League card and 1956 Topps Ted Williams. I can't remember if he had other cards. The Gwynn was pretty expensive back then, not sure what it sells for today.

I get there and buy those two cards and then asks me if I would be interested in old baseball scorecards. He then pulled out what was about 400 or 500 scorecards from the 30's and 40's. His Father or grandfather, I don't remember which, was a traveling salesman and would go to baseball games when he traveled. He would buy a scorecard and saved them all. I think he was asking $5 or $10 each.

I had very limited money and ended up buying all the Yankee ones he had and one from a Bob Feller no-hitter. They were all scored and they were very interesting. Some games where Ruth and Gehrig hit HR's, a couple from Joe D's first year as a Yankee.

He seemed to have a lot of Cub's but I passed on them as I didn't collect that kind of stuff.

Anyway, I ended up trading the 20 or so I did buy for some cards a few months later and regret that almost as much as not buying every single scorecard the guy had.

[robedits]

Originally Posted by milkit1

nap rucker! cool! do you have a picture of the hat?

I was right in the middle of one of the Brooklyn zones that had to "evacuate" during the recent hurricane. BEofre my wife and I left, we put several items into storage and/or safe deposits in case of home damage...the cap was one of them. When I have time to go get it back out of the bank,I will be happy to post a picture of the cap. It's still pretty vivid light-ish blue (was it a darker shade back when he played?).
I posted a pic here sometime back I believe...

Rob

[Tomman1961]

Maybe 15 years ago there was an auction with a baseball, from a game, dated August 16, 1861. With the score, teams, and dated written on it. That ball was 100 years old to the day I was born. That would have been neat to have. At the time, money was tight.

[thekingofclout]

A few years ago, I came upon a Jackie Robinson Signed Letter on Chock Full O'Nuts Stationary on ebay. Well, they surface often enough, but as I remember it, it was dated Jan. 1957, and this one was addressed to New York Giants owner Horace Stoneham explaining that he decided that he was going to retire and therefore would not be reporting to the Giants (due to Brooklyn recently trading him to the Giants). As always with Jackie his words were absolutely first class.

Even though the letter was not authenticated, I was sure it was the real deal. Still, with cash being tight at the time, I put in a snipe of a few thousand (I can't remember exactly, which I'm sure it's my brain sparing me the pain) and was the under-bidder. The new owner didn't waste any time as it' surfaced in Heritage's next auction and realized almost $20,000. Ouch! That one stills stings.

[earlywynnfan]

A couple of years ago, Mastro sold two lots of almost 200 Negro League signed baseballs each. These weren't the guys you see regularly, this collection was put together in the 80's. No Jackies or Paiges, but for someone who likes the obscure, these were a gold mine. Because $$ was tight, I only bid to win one. I kept about 30 for my collection, including the best ones, and sold the rest for about 5 times what I paid! I still tear up thinking how I let the other lot get away.

Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.com

Sidenote: About a year ago I found out the other winner was Geddy Lee, and he donated those to the NL museum in KC.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by jsage

It is not very vintage - but not buying the 1986 Fleer Basketball Wax Boxes at Costco for $10 per box. When they were first issued, they had big supply.

Like most of us, I was a "Baseball Purist" and thinking -who would want to collect Basketball Cards?
At that time most people did not realize the Jordan rookie would quickly escalate to $1,000 for a top graded card...................

There was a guy who had a cardshop in his basement that I would go to once a week in the mid 80s...he had mistakenly been shipped a box of the 86 fleer basketball and wanted to know if I wanted it at his cost... I told him I'd take a box if it helped him any...I opened the box when I got home..put two complete sets together..got three Jordan's..so I gave the extra Jordan to my brother in law who is a huge North Carolina fan...I sold both sets off before the Jordan card went crazy. I still remember seeing ads in the SCD for cases of that stuff at $20,000+

[milkit1]

Originally Posted by robedits

I was right in the middle of one of the Brooklyn zones that had to "evacuate" during the recent hurricane. BEofre my wife and I left, we put several items into storage and/or safe deposits in case of home damage...the cap was one of them. When I have time to go get it back out of the bank,I will be happy to post a picture of the cap. It's still pretty vivid light-ish blue (was it a darker shade back when he played?).
I posted a pic here sometime back I believe...

Rob

awesome ,looking forward to it. Nap is one of my favorite players

[steve B]

Originally Posted by jsage

It is not very vintage - but not buying the 1986 Fleer Basketball Wax Boxes at Costco for $10 per box. When they were first issued, they had big supply.

Like most of us, I was a "Baseball Purist" and thinking -who would want to collect Basketball Cards?
At that time most people did not realize the Jordan rookie would quickly escalate to $1,000 for a top graded card...................

It's amazing how many of us passed those up. For me it was McCrorys in the mall. They had a full island display, 8ft long with 3 tiered shelves and cabinets below. All 86 fleer basketball. I bought a handful of packs, stopped by a few days later and bought a few more. Found out they were supposed to be hard to find, went back and they were all gone. Total time maybe 10 days, and only 2-3 days between the last few I bought from the still full display and the empty display.

Steve B

[mr2686]

First "big" show I ever attended at the Anaheim convention center. Must have been about 40 or 50 very long rows of dealers. The very first row I found a framed and matted lithograph of Ty Cobb with a signed Check dated the day and year I was born. Not having any experience with shows, I decided to go through and look at every other table before deciding that I really really wanted that Cobb. Of course, it was long gone when I got back.

[Exhibitman]

Mike's story reminds me of when I was about 14 or 15 and at a local show here in LA. A dealer had a stack [I mean dozens] of Cobb checks at $50 each. I thought about it but $50 was a big piece of my budget and there were so many of them that I passed.

[Kzoo]

I remember the card like it was yesterday and exactly where I saw it. I believe it was around '86 or '87 and my parents used to drag me to an antique show once in a while on Sunday afternoons. Now fast forward twenty some years, and I love going to the same antique show during the summer. To this day, I remember the exact spot where a dealer had a '52 Topps Mantle in a thick screw down case for $500. It was in Good condition with some soft corners, but I only had like $20 back then and I could get a lot of 35 cent wax packs with that money. That Mantle was way out of my league, but I'll never forget it.

Matt

[GasHouseGang]

I had a similar experience with the Topps '52 Mantle. A local doctor in my home town that had collected the cards as a kid, was selling everything he had. This must have been around 1980. He must have just opened the cards and put them away, because he had some beautiful '50s cards but he wanted book price. He had two 52 Mantles in thick screw downs. He wanted $1000 each but would take $900. It would have been really difficult to come up with that kind of money, so I just settled on a few other cards he had (I remember one was a 53 Campanella). I really kick myself for not figuring out a way to at least buy one of those Mantles!