Incomplete Inscriptions

As I have been reading articles on the internet the past few days I noticed a common theme among baseball columnists.  Records.  Columnists and experts are obsessed with records and love writing about them, whether it is Rivera’s 602 saves or Jeter’s 3000^th hit, recently baseball has been flooded with articles on records and whose record is better or more unbreakable.  Records are a common inscription request amongst all collectors as it adds to the uniqueness of the item.  Over the years we have gotten some crazy inscription requests, but that’s for another time…

Every year we hold a few mail order signings where people can send in items to be signed by some of the athletes we work with, such as Cal Ripken Jr. and Joe Mauer.  Each signing we get several different inscription requests and without fail the same questions get asked.  “Which inscription is better for Cal to sign?  “2,131 consecutive games” or “2,632 consecutive games?”  I always answer it the same way.  What is the final record tally?  Is the record 2,131 consecutive games or is it 2,632 consecutive games?  Obviously the record is 2,632 and even though the record used to be 2,130 it isn’t anymore so we always say go with the full record.  There is one exception however; if you have a photograph or a piece of memorabilia from either of the 2,130 or 2,131 game then we recommend going with the partial record stat.

Think about it for another player.  Would you want a Hank Aaron inscription with 715 Home runs when he ended up with 755?  How about a Greg Maddux inscription with 330 wins when he finished with 355?  We see this with a lot of other companies and collectors where they get an inscription for an incomplete record.

As for players that are still current and playing baseball we NEVER recommend getting an inscription like “3x HR champion” or “only AL catcher to win a batting title” reason for this should seem pretty obvious, the minute that player wins another HR title or another AL catcher wins a batting title that item becomes extinct and the value is greatly diminished.

Moral of the story… put some thought into your inscription.  Is it something that makes sense?  Will it stand the test of time?