[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.