In The Spot LightRoger Maris

The year...1961:  a record was broken, hearts were broken, and a man’s life was changed forever. Roger Maris will forever be known as the man that took Babe Ruth's record. The man that changed the record books. Maris was hated, booed, cussed, and generally abused by the press and fans for his chase of the most well-known mark in all of baseball: Babe Ruth's sixty single season home runs.

Maris began the year as just another hard-hitting Yankee. If anyone, his battery mate, and media darling, Mickey Mantle was scheduled to be the one to take over the spot on the all time homer list. "Mick" was loved by the fans and the press, Maris was not. In fact, whenever Maris hit one of his home runs, he was quickly reminded that it was only because Mantle was behind him that he even saw a good pitch to hit. In fact, Maris spent his entire record setting year cast as the villain in a media-soap opera, while his good friend, Mantle, was seen as the good guy whose own teammate was trying to steal his thunder.

Maris suffered greatly during the season. He actually lost his hair and had his and his families lives threatened. The most heartbreaking part of his 1961 saga came after his record breaking long ball. Commissioner Ford Frick decided that Maris' record would not stand against Ruth's because it was not done during the same number of games. The record was followed by the most famous asterisk in history. Maris could not take the pride he deserved in his great achievement. Speaking in 1980 he said: "They acted as though I was doing something wrong, poisoning the record books or something. Do you know what I have to show for sixty-one home runs? Nothing. Exactly nothing." What should have been one of baseball’s greatest achievements became one of its saddest stories.

I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for Roger Maris. He handled all the adversity with class and achieved a truly remarkable record-breaking accomplishment under extremely harsh conditions. The only asterisk next to sixty-one should denote that Roger was steroid free.

My Favorite Baseball Cards
(In each post I will share with you one of my favorite baseball cards)

Today's card is - 1954 Topps Hank Aaron Rookie Card. In 1954 I was 10 years old and after spending a whopping 5 cents for a pack of cards (including gum) there is a good chance a had this card in my hand at some time. Probably long enough to attach it to the spokes of my bicycle (who knew?). A 1954 Topps Hank Aaron Rookie Card, graded at PSA 9, recently sold on eBay.  A PSA 9 grade for a 50 plus year old card is extremely rare.  So, as you might imagine, this baseball card sold for quite a sum of money. How about $27,999! :-(

The Top Ten Reasons You Know You Love Baseball:

1. You can justify paying $6 for a hot dog and $4 for a coke.
2. You need one more Brian Taylor card to complete your collection. You still think there is chance he might make it.
3. You understand baseball's Rule 5 Draft.
4. You keep score at every game.
5. You fake an injury so you don't have to go to your mother-in-law's birthday party. Instead you stay home and watch the game.
6. You attend T-Ball games even though none of you children are involved
7. Your vacation destination always is a city with a Major League Baseball team and they just happen to be playing at home.
8. Your wife asks you to come to bed and you say “As soon as the game is over”
9. One of your life goals is to catch a foul ball.
10. You volunteer to mow the little league baseball field even though you lost the dog in your lawn last week.

Fun Cards From Topps

In 2010, Topps has continued inserting surprises in its baseball card sets.

In 2007, I pulled the Derek Jeter card with Mickey Mantle digitally placed in the dugout and George W. Bush in the stands. I don’t have 2008 Rudy Giuliani celebrating in the Red Sox's World Series dog pile, or a no-hitter highlight card for Johan Santana (a made up no hitter). In 2009, Topps had a Barack Obama card of him throwing out a ceremonial first pitch.

This year, collectors started finding cards with pictures of New York Yankees who had been pied in the face after hitting walk-off home runs and then last month Topps intimated that a short-printed variation card existed in the set featuring Abraham Lincoln.

At this time Topps isn’t revealing how many Lincoln cards have been print. So for now if you have one I would put it in a hard plastic holder in a safe place until we find out more about it. Who knows you have something good. Good luck.

Protecting Your Sports Memorabilia Collection

Whether you are collecting as a hobby or as an investor, you'll want to be sure to take every precaution to protect your assets. 

The truth is that you have invested lots of time, money and even emotions into your collection. Whether you plan to later sell for profit or to leave it for your heirs, you'll want to keep it in pristine condition.  The overall value of your collection will be determined by how well you've protected it.  Natural elements such as the sun and wind, dust or even excessive handling can damage your pieces.

Protecting Your Memorabilia

Commemorative bats, baseballs, helmets, tennis balls and hockey sticks should be kept in protective display cases. The cases should have a UV protective shield to protect your items against dust and fading.  A quality case should be attractive and complimentary to your memorabilia, and it should offer you easy access to your piece. 

Memorabilia such as magazines, tickets, photos and event programs are especially prone to damage. Several storage options are available, none the less you’ll want to choose the one that best works for you while providing the best protection for your collection.  For example, if you want to display your collection, you’ll want to choose a method that allows for easy visibility but does not allow for too much handling.  One such method is to have your memorabilia displayed, mounted and protected in a high quality, UV protective shadowbox or collectible frame. To insure this is done properly, you’ll want to choose a company that has experience working with sports collectibles.  Other options include acid-free archival storage boxes, resealable sleeves/bags or albums.  When storing thin sheets of paper, be sure to keep the pages flat by using an acid-free backer board.

Sports cards are very popular in the memorabilia industry.  To keep your collection safe, you’ll need to come up with a storage solution that protects your cards from both fading and tearing.  Sports cards can safely be stored in plastic sleeves, storage boxes, hard plastic cases or card collecting binders. 

Other collectibles such as collectible coins or autographed jerseys should also be well protected.  Coins should be kept in a coin box, holder or album.  Jerseys should be protected in a jersey case (which will allow you to display your treasure), or in a textile conservation box. 

Even though your items are well protected, it is still wise to keep them away from exposure to the sun, smoke, food, water and other potentially hazardous items.  If you have children around, you’ll also want to be sure to store or display your collectibles in a place in which the children cannot get to them.