Let's talk about Game Used cards...
 

I just picked up this Cobb recently and absolutely love it. I've had a love/hate relationship with GU cards over the years. I was initially against it, then indifferent, then I didn't care about them at all, and now I can't get enough of them. I have no interest (or space) to own full pieces of memorabilia, that is something for museums as I would constantly worry about degradation/storage despite having the best intentions.

So I ask you this:

What are your thoughts on GU cards? Have they changed over the years? Do you prefer earlier ones to newer ones, etc.

My feelings towards them haven't changed.

I'm very against cutting up old items where there just aren't many available.
Or in a handful of cases unique.

I'm ok with the modern stuff for current players who can use a bat or jersey once and hand it to the company rep or something like that.

I would be less against cutting up old stuff if it was in horrible condition, like half a bat, or a badly moth eaten and torn uniform.

I can definitely see that perspective and I shared it at one point. I think the turning point for me was that I wanted the memorabilia as I got older and didn't want to own full jerseys or bats etc, and this gave me the perfect opportunity to own a piece of the item and have it in a small form factor, one of which I collected already.

I also came to the realization that they aren't cutting up every old jersey or bat, which gave me some solace, but selfishly I just love having a piece of these legendary items at a reasonable price. That is the biggest reason for me being pro-game used cards; it gives everyone the chance to own a piece of history, or of their hero, that they would not have been able to otherwise.

I only have a handful of game used items across multiple sports, and none of them from anyone famous, although a couple would be well known. I enjoy then far more than the few game used cards I've gotten from packs.
Most were fairly inexpensive. I can't afford a Cobb jersey, but could afford one from Jon Matlack. Some of the others came to me in strange ways and cost very little. Like a 50's game used bat at a flea market for I think $1.

When you think about it, a fairly average player like Matlack would have just 2 home and two road jerseys each year. That makes even a common jersey a really uncommon thing.

I saw a video years ago showing Topps Secure storage for items they'd bought for memorabilia cards. Some of the stuff they'd bought and were showing off was the sort of thing even someone famous would only have one of for years.
Like a famous actors briefcase.
Once they cut it into tiny pieces it was essentially lost to history.

I get the attraction of having a tiny part of history, but I don't agree with the concept of making it affordable to everyone. If something is truly "special" cutting it up makes it a lot less special. especially for bats, where the scrap they use is more likely from the interior, and is just a bit of wood. I have a bunch of ash scraps, and nobody would ever know the difference*.


*Sort of, there are tests that could tell how old the wood is.

I can absolutely see that perspective, and I agree on bats. I don't collect the game used bats with the exception of some of the Leaf products that have outer pieces like Leaf Lumber or the Babe Ruth set they did in 2019 that was done under the licensing of the Ruth Family and they sold a bat to Leaf, there was a lot of press at the time and Leaf put it into their product. I was able to snag one of the outer pieces.

I'm pretty indifferent to them. The only thing I really care about with these cards is the overall design. I feel like there are many that are just very lazy looking cards and the piece of GU whatever was just randomly thrown in there. The two posted in this thread so far do not fall into that category and they are very visually appealing.

My feelings towards them haven't changed.

I'm very against cutting up old items where there just aren't many available.
Or in a handful of cases unique.

I'm ok with the modern stuff for current players who can use a bat or jersey once and hand it to the company rep or something like that.

I would be less against cutting up old stuff if it was in horrible condition, like half a bat, or a badly moth eaten and torn uniform.

I agree completely.
I am not against cutting up the new stuff where a player can change his jersey every half inning and at the end of the game he could have 18 game used jerseys. A 7 game World Series would produce about 126 game used World Series jerseys.
Bob