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Informative Articles

Changing Landscape of the NHL
Changing Landscape of the NHL The changing face of the NHL is very prominent as the first regular season play begins for the 2005-2006 season. Big named players have left big named teams for the previously has-been doorstops of the NHL. It is...

Home Run Statistics – Going Going Gone.
This was written prior to the 2005 season The home run. One of sports grandest sights. Whether it is a line drive that barely clears the wall or a pop up that glances off the foul pole. Or if it’s a shot that goes 40 rows back. It is still a home...

How to Break in a Baseball Glove the Old-Fashioned Way
You learn how to break in a baseball glove as soon as you're able to hold a baseball mitt with one hand. It was a tradition in my family each winter. Come late October or early November, after the leaves had already fallen and been raked up and when...

MY PASSION FOR BASEBALL
MY PASSION FOR BASEBALL  What is something you are passionate about? Passion is contagious and feeds off this positive energy. Have you ever seen two people who truly love the game of baseball talk about baseball? I have a friend’s wife tell...

So You’re The New Baseball Coach
So you’re the new coach. Ok, now what? Coaching a team sure seemed like a good idea, maybe even easy…until you started thinking and getting into it deeper. All those players, parents, the draft, practices…and those game decisions…ugh. Maybe...

 
How to Care for Sports Memorabilia

IT'S NOT JUST A HOBBY, IT'S AN INVESTMENT!

Many collectors of sports memorabilia have their collections in their homes or offices without really showing regard to the preservation and the protection of the items.

I was watching an old black and white movie recently and the scene was a newspaper guy's office in the fifties. A visitor walks in and as he chats with the news-guy, he casually picks up a baseball from an eggcup type of stand on his desk and turns it over in his hand and glances at it. I think the conversation went something like this " Freddy where did you get this, it looks like it's got Yankee signatures on it?" Freddy catches the ball that the visitor tosses over to him and says, "Yeah I think it's from the late forties, my Dad had it and I sort of inherited it." I'm watching and even though it's a movie I'm saying YIKES, Freddy, put that thing in a proper container, you keep throwing that ball around the office and before you know it, bingo, no signatures left!

WHAT'S AVAILABLE TO PROTECT COLLECTIBLES?

1. If Freddy had that ball in his office today, he could buy an acrylic display case similar to the ones found on www.sportsplayer.net, and he could then show the ball to visitors without fear of harming the signatures or the


ball itself. 2. Watch the lighting where you display your collections. If fluorescent lighting is nearby, consider replacing it with regular household lighting as fluorescent lighting has ultra violet rays that may damage your display, especially if it carries an autograph. Natural sunlight is even more likely to harm your display, so be sure to keep your collection as far away from direct sunlight as possible. 3. Store your collections in an area that is as close to normal room temperatures as possible. Have you ever been to a store that sells old books? Notice that smell? Often they will take delivery of books that have been stored away in a box in someone's dank and dark basement. Smells like mould, right? Humidity kills collections!

If your hobby collection is not quite a big investment yet, it has the possibility in the future of being worth quite a bit of money. Be sure to pay attention to the physical protection of your sports memorabilia. Also, talk to your insurance agent to see if he can offer a rider to you that will cover the loss or damage of your collection.

About the author:

John Paul writes for Sports Player Network (SPN). SPN specializes in Authentic Sports Memorabilia. For more tips and information, visit the SPN website at http://www.sportsplayer.net