12/22/24
October 20, 2003
Hey, wanna own a piece of baseball history?: I mean, literally a piece of history? Donruss is cutting up a Babe Ruth jersey to put the swatches into packs of baseball cards. Is this desecration? A lame marketing ploy to jump-start a moribund sports-collectibles industry? A stroke of genius that will give some fans a tangible piece of the game?
This just seems crass and wrong to me. But sometimes you have to make a little money. Donruss? I can't believe they're still around.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 03:00 PM on October 20, 2003
Screw the jersey, how will this effect the bubble gum?!
posted by lilnemo at 03:04 PM on October 20, 2003
I like the cards that include tiny fragments of game-used jerseys, but I can't get over my fear that I'm venerating a strip of cloth that was highly proximate to any body part that could be described as an "orifice" or a "pit." I hope some kind of quality control is in place to prevent that from happening.
posted by rcade at 03:08 PM on October 20, 2003
I hope some kind of quality control is in place to prevent that from happening. And keep it away from my bubble gum!
posted by lilnemo at 03:27 PM on October 20, 2003
Screw the jersey, how will this effect the bubble gum?! No worries. The Donruss company has committed itself to excellence and promises that the gum will still break your teeth upon chewing and cause TMJ.
posted by jerseygirl at 03:28 PM on October 20, 2003
gum will still break your teeth upon chewing and cause TMJ. Yay!!
posted by lilnemo at 03:30 PM on October 20, 2003
gum will still break your teeth upon chewing and cause TMJ. Count me in!
posted by billsaysthis at 03:56 PM on October 20, 2003
I am getting me a piece of this jersey. My scientists will work feverishly to recover any DNA from the sample, and immediately proceed to clone the mofo. I will give one clone each to the Red Sox and the Cubs. Everybody else can pay top price. But the Yankees get none.
posted by worldcup2002 at 04:45 PM on October 20, 2003
it rings as wrong with me. with only 3 confirmed babe ruth home jerseys (now 2, i guess) in existence it seems like an abuse of heritage rather than sharing it. Next thing you know somebody will do something like.... buy the only known pads of hall of fame goalie Georges Vezina and cut them up into little pieces to mount on trading cards! Sure, do it with the common stuff but one-of-a-kind stuff or super rare stuff.... look but don't cut.
posted by gspm at 05:21 PM on October 20, 2003
Card companies have been doing this for almost 10 years now; why the big deal now?
posted by Bag Man at 05:48 PM on October 20, 2003
But the Yankees get none. I knew I liked the worldcup guy for some reason. Card companies have been doing this for almost 10 years now; why the big deal now? because it's Ruth? I don't know. I imagine this particular jersey raises the bar a bit.
posted by jerseygirl at 09:21 PM on October 20, 2003
What rankles people most about this: 1) There are now a grand total of TWO Babe Ruth jerseys left. Donruss could have bought this thing outright, then put it on tour to garner publicity, at least a quarter-million's worth. Instead, they slice it up like a lime at $.99 margarita night. What sort of respect does that show for the history of the game? 2) The game-used card market is falling apart. There are so many different cards featuring bases, balls (the horsehide kind, you perv), pants, jerseys, hats, bats ... there's just no way people can keep up with collecting them, and it's killing off those people who try to get every, say, Ripken card. Plus, who wants to open a pack and pull out a game-used Ruben Rivera pants card? 3) Stunts like these drive the pack prices up beyond the reach of most collectors. Yes, you will be able to get a Ruth jersey card in the $2.99 packs ... perhaps 5 in a run of 100,000 packs. To have a reasonable shot, you have to pony the big bucks, i.e. $150 per pack. A few collectors purchase these cards. The rest could give two shits. I used to own a baseball-card shop, and I remember the heady days of paying a whopping $18 wholesale for Upper Deck so I could mark it up to $1 a pack. Kids came in with $5 and bought five packs (I ate the tax - might be why I no longer own a card shop), then traded with me or the other customers. Now they are just as likely to throw the cards away, because they can only buy one pack of anything. I'll never purchase a new Donruss pack or product again because of this, and I hope other collectors will do the same.
posted by wfrazerjr at 10:07 PM on October 20, 2003
Perhaps if Donruss had done this a couple of weeks ago the curse would have transfered to them and the Sox would have won. I know, I know, I'm obsessing.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:00 AM on October 21, 2003
If you think this is offensive, wait until you hear what Ted Williams' kids are planning to do.
posted by rcade at 09:54 AM on October 21, 2003
the big deal now, for me (as with my prior feelings about the Vezina thing), is that they are cutting up history. There must be hundreds of Michael Jordan game worn jerseys out there. Cut up some of those and I don't see a problem with that. But when there is something is such short supply associated with such a legend it seems disrespectful. Sure it has been ongoing for ten years but I hadn't really seen it make 'the news' until the Vezina thing and now Ruth. Which says something about what those people mean to history.
posted by gspm at 10:25 AM on October 21, 2003
rcade: wait until you hear what Ted Williams' kids are planning to do. What are they going to do? Take the frozen head and do some microslicing so they can embed each slice in a trading card? Mmmm. Yummy.
posted by worldcup2002 at 12:23 PM on October 21, 2003
I told you don't fuck with my gum!
posted by lilnemo at 01:25 PM on October 21, 2003
Too late. You know all those crunchy crystals in there? Heh heh heh.
posted by worldcup2002 at 02:27 PM on October 21, 2003
I should add that Babe Ruth's daughter is OK with it, apparently, and that on further review I mis-spoke: Donruss has already cut the jersey.