|
| 30 Jun 2005 09:13:06 pm |
 FLEER TRADING CARDS OWES ME & HANK AARON WHEN DO WE GET OURS |
|
|
Fleer Trading Cards (a proud tradition for nearly a hundred years and now defunct) is a lesson in learning how not to treat sports fans, collectors and even players. The latest court documents reveal more about what Fleer was unable to do than what it could accomplish. The bottom line comes with what can only be called ‘the redemption mess.’
When Fleer management fired everyone a few weeks ago and basically shut the company down it left owing a whopping $33 million to creditors. Hundreds of those creditors were professional athletes and retired players who signed autographs for the company’s trading cards and never got the money owed them.
It is a list of names which reads like a pretty good team. In right field Hank Aaron owed $80,000. At first base, Don Mattingly $23,000, at shortstop Jack Wilson $4500, Al Kaline joins Aaron in the outfield owed $5,000 along with Carl Crawford $21,000. At third base is Cal Ripken Jr., $12,800, Carlton Fisk is behind the plate with his hand burning for $12,600 while Edgar Martinez can slip over to second waiting for his nearly $12,000. These are just a handful of the baseball players who didn’t get their money.
There were more in the other sports too but time and space doesn’t allow us to name them all. Then there are the printers, the designers, the photographers, the companies which supplied game used items and the list goes on and on.
Oh, the collectors who faithfully bought Fleer products which were filled with redemption cards for autographs? They get nothing. There will be an auction, planned if the court approves for July 15th. This auction will be held for furniture, a van, office equipment and thousands of autographs and game used items. None of which the collectors who expected these items will ever get.
The only way this could happen is for some magnanimous gesture from a card company, a league, a player’s association or even some rich dude who might buy them…and…in turn get the list of redemptions owed and make good on them. Of course this would never happen as who is going to lose money doing this in today’s world?
By the way there is one more big name on the list of creditors. A guy named Alex Grass. Grass owns 51% of Fleer and took over when son Roger bailed out. Alex Grass has put in for $17 million in loans he made to Fleer. More than half of Fleer’s debt.
Now before anyone suggests the arrogance of such a move, remember that any businessman who legitimately loaned a company $17 million to stay afloat would have done the same thing. It is called protecting your assets.
One should draw no conclusion between the history of the Grass family and it’s involvement with the Rite-Aid Stores scandals and Fleer. We won’t be doing that certainly in this public forum. It just should be said the Grass family has had its problems previously with other companies. Then again if Alex Grass did loan $17 million to Fleer he had to have some business sense to have $17 million to begin with. One would hope so anyway.
Then there is the fact three people are being employed to stay on through the liquidation. Chris Tobia the CFO is being paid $1000 a day, as are two other management individuals who are being paid less. Before anyone says this is questionable you must realize someone who knows something about the product and its whereabouts and what things are worth, is needed to help organize stuff for the auction. It is a thousand-dollar-a-day job to say the least. Organizing thousands of autographs and game used jerseys and detailing what they are worth for an auction.
One might suggest any 15 year old with a Beckett Price Guide could do it just as quickly but that wouldn’t be too accurate. An 18 year old with a Beckett Price Guide might be more legitimate.
But I digress. Oh by the way? What about that Dwyane Wade Sweet Sigs Autographed card #1/3 I have been waiting for, for nearly a year? For $1000 a day I’ll come find it myself if I get the call. |
|
| |
Category : General
| Posted By : kckings |  Comments[1] |  Trackbacks [8608] |
|
|
| 28 Jun 2005 12:03:03 pm |
| LOS ANGELES DODGERS PROMOTION NOT FAN FRIENDLY |
|
|
I was never so disappointed upon learning the Los Angeles Dodgers have a policy which treats paying customers who are doing the right thing, in a shabby manner. The situation in question stems from June 27th, 2005, when the club offered a Sandy Koufax promotion during the Dodgers-Padres game in Los Angeles.
The first 50,000 people in attendance were to receive a ceramic statue of the great Dodger pitcher. This is not a bobbin’ head doll but more like the Gartland Statues of past days but of an inferior quality. Still, a nice item.
As a promotion for the loyal customers of my hobby store I purchased 10 tickets at $17 each for the reserved section with the idea of treating my customers. My store (KC Kings) is unofficially named after Koufax and Roberto Clemente. We chose to honor these two players long ago and have done many promotions tied to items featuring either or both players. This was a natural.
The customers could have kept the figures if they really wanted but we had asked they give them to us, which in turn we would sell in the store to help recover our costs. We bought drinks for the customers at the game and even brought a box of cards to play Pack Wars with prizes given out. The whole night was planned as fun and it was and my customers showed their appreciation in thought and deed.
At the last minute one of the customers couldn’t attend. This left us with one extra ticket which we felt we would use to get a Koufax figure. I entered the gate, had both tickets scanned (mine and the extra one) and proceeded to get my statues.
Imagine my surprise when I was told I was going to get one, not two. The policy was “one per person attending the game.” No matter I had purchased 10 tickets, or two, or one, it was just one statue per person. They were giving away 50,000 and while the paid attendance that night was 47,000, there were in reality only about 30,000 or so in the stands. The National League counts season ticket holders whether they attend the game or not in those attendance figures.
I had a NON-heated discussion with the gentleman and finally asked to talk to a superior. My wish was granted and I approached Dan Brewster nearby who is a manager in the Advertising and Special Events division for the club. The following is the basic conversation I had with him. Please keep in mind, I never raised my voice or used any obscene language or disparaged him in any way. I just felt the policy was wrong.
BB: Hi Dan, I’m Bob Brill, I write a column for Beckett.com., and I also own a hobby store in Ventura. I bought 10 tickets for customers I brought to the game as a promotion and one guy couldn’t make it, so I wanted to get a Koufax figure for my extra ticket.
DB: It’s only one figure per person entering the gate. That is the policy.
BB: I didn’t see that posted but either way you are saying I can’t get one for the ticket I bought?
DB: The policy is one per person entering the gate.
BB: That is just wrong. I should get one for every ticket.
DB: That is the policy. This is a conversation I’m going to have a hundred times tonight.
BB: So if I hadn’t gotten the extra ticket scanned, I could have gone in through another gate and gotten the figure for that ticket.
DB: If I would have seen you I would not have allowed you to get the extra statue. The policy is one per person entering the gate. We’re giving away 50,000 of these. No other stadium gives away that many promotional items. You know that.
BB: I’m not disputing that. I’m saying I paid $17 for a ticket to get one of these I should be able to get one for each ticket I bought.
DB: You are in the collectibles business you can get one on eBay for 10 bucks tomorrow.
BB: So I’d be paying $27 for the figure instead of getting one for the ticket I legitimately bought for this promotion.
DB: I’m sorry about that but this is the policy.
BB: Apology accepted but that doesn’t make it right. You made 50,000 of these, right?
DB: Yes.
BB: Is the game going to be a sellout?
DB: Probably not, but when we planned the promotion we thought it might be.
BB: So if I come to you after the game and you have 10,000 or 20,000 left and I bring you my extra ticket, can I get one for that ticket?
DB: The extra figures are going to charity and given the choice of giving one to you or giving it to charity, charity is going to win every time.
BB: So I just wasted $17 for a ticket?
DB: Maybe you should have bought a $6 ticket.
BB: I was going to do a story in my column about this promotion, now I’m going to have the focus on more than the promotional part of my story.
DB: That is fine; just make sure you are fair. Please do so everyone understands the policy.
BB: I will be, I always am, for over 30 years as a journalist I’ve always been fair, but I have to tell both sides of this story, certainly. Thank you.
I wrote a letter to Frank McCourt, owner of the Dodgers, the very next morning.
To me, the policy is unfair. One can understand the reasoning behind the idea for the policy. We all know there are people who will cheat and skirt rules because they can. As we all know in the collectibles industry that if you corner the market on a hot item (which this is not by the way) you can sell it for whatever your want and people do get upset about the greed factor. There were 50,000 of these made! This is not a limited edition item, nor will it sell the next day on eBay for $50 each! Brewster is right it is probably a $10 item. This is all the more reason to give each and every “ticket holder” or “customer who bought a ticket” one for each ticket purchased.
As it was, this fan was made to feel as if the money he paid was wasted. He was made to feel the team, the club; the ownership holds him less valuable than the statue which likely costs the club $1.80 to have made.
The fan paid $17 for the ticket, $10 for parking, $25 in gasoline, $8 for a beer, $5 for peanuts, $6 for a sandwich and all told several hundred dollars on the night. Yet, indeed, the extra $17 ticket which was used but did not accompany a separate warm body was wasted. The team did not think enough of a paying customer to grant him the very promotional item he was going to the game to receive and for which he was promised if he attended the game.
This particular fan will no longer attend games at Dodger Stadium. This particular fan and businessman will no longer promote the Los Angeles Dodgers. This particular fan has more choices on where to spend his money and it won’t be spent promoting or backing a team which treats it’s paying customers with such disdain where it values a flawed policy more than the people paying to support the team and the sport.
It is just plain wrong. |
|
| |
Category : General
| Posted By : kckings | Comments[0] | Trackbacks [7981] |
|
|
| 23 Jun 2005 11:40:45 pm |
| THE LONG NBA SEASON |
|
|
NBA AND THE LONG SEASON
June 23, 2005
When the San Antonio Spurs beat the Detroit Pistons in game seven of the NBA Finals on June 23rd it marked the end of an eight month long ordeal. From November 2nd when the LA Lakers beat Denver 89-72 to the ‘feel good end of the Larry Brown era San Antonio victory,’ it was a season few may remember for anything super positive.
Forget the Pistons and Pacers and Ron Artest battling the fans in the stands at the Palace. Forget the talk of another lock-out and forget the fact Kobe Bryant scored a game high 25 points the first night of the season, long before Phil Jackson announced he was coming back. Just remember the season was eight months long!
Doesn’t it seem just too long to be playing basketball in the NBA? This came after a month of pre-season games. Baseball begins in April and ends in October with a 6.5 month run. The NFL is a five month affair. And really, the NBA season didn’t seem as long as previous seasons. Perhaps it is because those who-cares-about-the-fans guys who play on the ice weren’t around to take up our time when the NBA wasn’t playing. Maybe not having hockey around was a good thing. It made the NBA seasons seem shorter. All eight months of it!
Does anyone get what is being said here? The NBA season is freaking too long, eight months? How about six months? We cut out 25-percent of the regular season games and make all the playoffs including the Finals a best three-out-of-five scenario? Wow there is an idea. Whoops, forgot one thing; television money. There is too much money on these long seasons to cut back.
They need more money to pay those 19 year olds. That is another subject soon to be addressed. |
|
| |
Category : General
| Posted By : kckings | Comments[2] | Trackbacks [14603] |
|
|
| 12 Jun 2005 10:17:02 pm |
| WILL BARRY BONDS BE BACK? MAYBE NOT. |
|
|
Card and memorabilia collectors who are holding on to Barry Bonds items hoping these will increase in value when he surpasses Babe Ruth and Henry Aaron may want to think again. Giant fans hope Barry returns this year following his multiple physical problems. Major League Baseball might opt for next year when Bonds is healthier and another year removed from the Balco steroids controversy.
The reality might be Bonds may never return to play the game he has so long dominated. Logic says if you analyze the situation Bonds may himself choose, or even may have already chosen, not to come back.
The choice may be for the most disgusting of all reasons; the fringe element of society which lives today as it did yesterday and is known as the underbelly of human existence. The radical, racist, can’t-get-out-of-the-mud ingrates who survive only for themselves and who will not blend into society. Their only course of action is to change society through their own blind and sick minds.
Look at the facts. Bonds, not a fan favorite by any means, is only a few home runs away from passing one of the most beloved players of all time. Babe Ruth is considered the
‘greatest’ major league player in history. Ruth’s popularity has never been higher. What he did for the game is more appreciated today than it was 50 years ago. Bonds of course is black, Ruth was white.
Spin back to the early 1970’s. Hank Aaron, a fan favorite although under appreciated, was only two home runs away from passing one of the most beloved players of all time, The Babe. Aaron of course is black, and again Ruth was white.
Aaron had to endure the most disgusting array of anti-black hatred ever heaped upon any man, let alone a national figure and an American hero who as Aaron once told me when I interviewed him during my UPI days, ‘was just playing baseball.’ The death threats, the letters, the racial slurs aimed at his family would drive lesser men over the edge. Extra security was a must where ever the man traveled and the off season was the worst.
Aaron ended the season needing only one homer to tie Ruth and two to pass him. The winter was a nightmare for Aaron which he details in his book ‘I Had a Hammer.’ There was a definite fear in Atlanta and through out major league baseball some whacko racist would shoot him on the field.
Bonds is by no means as well thought of as Aaron and the steroid controversy and his own anti-media attitude compound matters. There is no reason to believe Bonds is any better situated when it comes to being the target of racist violence than Aaron. In today’s world it is becoming increasingly more difficult to protect one’s self, one’s family and those who might be around them in a crowded place. Technology alone is thousands of times better to defend and also to destroy. It is fact.
Add to this the gall of anyone to think they should control what records are broken and who breaks them, and you have a problem of enormous magnitude. Even the white Roger Maris was the target of not so well meaning fans as he approached the record of the storied Babe in 1961.
Bonds has talked with Mays and early in the season it was reported he spoke with Aaron. No one could blame Barry if he chose to sit this one out, to not pursue the record, to not undergo the scrutiny and to not put himself, his family and others in danger. No one could judge the very competitive Bonds for saying to himself ‘Enough already.’
Maybe, just maybe those in the circle said ‘Barry you are one of only three men in history to hit 700 home runs. Passing the Babe will create more bad will than good, especially when most of the public will feel the record tainted. You can never win this battle.’
Passing Aaron might do more harm than good for reasons which (due to the steroid issue) are obvious. Aaron surpassed the Babe and endured. Bonds reputation would likely not and why take the chances outlined above when they are not necessary?
Barry Bonds will go down in history as one of the greatest players to ever play the game. He is a lock for the Hall of Fame. If Barry has to use his injury to protect himself, his family and baseball and bow out in doing so, he might even be considered greater than his records declare. |
|
| |
Category : General
| Posted By : kckings | Comments[2] | Trackbacks [9570] |
|
|
| 09 Jun 2005 08:28:57 am |
| The Bob Brill Blog: A Reason to Be |
|
|
This is a new blog for Bob Brill, writer, columnist, recognized sports collectibles expert. The purpose of this blog will be to communicate to the general public not only the trappings of the collectibles market, but will also emphasize the fun and uniqueness of the industry. The same will go for entertainment and sports in general. Having covered Hollywood for many years from my desk at UPI and being backstage at nine Academy Awards shows as a reporter, I think I bring something unique to the table.
Part of what I will do will mix reviews and commentary when it comes to movies and sports. America has two great exports; Hollywood and Sports. These will be the focus of our daily blog.
When at UPI Radio Network I filed a daily program called "My Side." This blog will take on that form and carry out that tradition. Feel free to comment back and join the discussion. Just keep the language civil and we'll all get along, but don't hold back either. Be angry, be humorous and be fun. I plan to be.
Thanx
Bob Brill
 |
|
| |
Category : General
| Posted By : kckings | Comments[1] | Trackbacks [26906] |
|
| |
|
|
|
