Game-Used Jersey
August 16th, 2010 | by admin |While traveling through Orlando, Florida, I stopped into the local, annual sports memorabilia convention. If you are into sport memorabilia like I am, specifically game-used memorabilia this store is a one to see. Game-used memorabilia means items that were on the player or utilized in play during a game. The things most searched for are usually a Game-worn jersey or autographed baseballs. I myself bought a game-used jersey that was worn by the great Cal Ripken Jr, the legendary shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles, which he had on during a home game in July of 1985. He was one of my role models and idols in baseball when I was a kid.
This convention had everything a memorabilia collector could ask for. If you were looking for a baseball autographed by the 1929 Chicago White Sox or the game-used jersey of a famous record holder that he or she actually wore, or even if you were in search of an unknown and hard to find athlete’s memento, then you were likely to find it at this sport memorabilia convention.
I for my part was pinched in by the baseball memorabilia, since I am a large supporter of anything baseball, the convention was far from limited to only baseball. It had the more observed sports like basketball, football, golf, tennis, soccer and many more to the less followed sports such as lacrosse, track and field, wrestling, gymnastics, swimming, and tons more. the show had it everything!
The place was so large that it was overwhelming. You did not know where to look. A regular collector probably knows his way around though but I was still just an amateur. Collecting is an investment and like all investments has a level of risk involved. Some of the great players of today might get injured and not be able to finish the great career they were expected to. Acceptance into the hall of fame is an automatic large boost in the value of collectables for that player and if a player is not able to finish out their entire career due to an injury that can kill your investment. Other things can like poor personal character or illegal activities can also hurt a player’s career and your investment.
Take Billy Ripken who spit in the face of an umpire or Pete Rose who was caught gambling on a game for instance. This is why I advise not to do it for the money and just for the entertainment.