The Relic contained in this Chris Davis Museum Collection card is from a specific game and season

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MLBAuthentication

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor | Commentary

This year’s edition of Topps Museum Collection arrived in hobby shops today with every pack containing some type of hit — an autographed card or a Relic of an MLB player.

This particular card was pulled by a collector, and it includes a nameplate from a black game-used bat from Baltimore Orioles slugger Chris Davis embedded into it — but that’s not why it carries extra appeal to me.

It’s a nameplate of a black Louisville Slugger M356 model that Davis splintered at the handle when facing Jon Lester during the bottom of the fourth inning on March 31, 2014, in Oriole Park at Camden Yards. How do I know this? The MLB Authentication sticker tells me just that.

The game’s box score tells me Davis went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts on that sunny, 60-degree Monday — a game that, despite the slugger’s tough day, was a 2-1 Orioles victory.

BatAuthentication

 

Meanwhile, I’d be willing to bet that, like many Topps Relics, the back of this card reads just like this: “The Relic contained in this card is not from any specific game, event or season.” That’s the standard blurb that works in tandem with the labeling on the front of the card that notes it’s game-used. It’s also so you don’t think (for whatever reason) that it’s being passed off the bat shown in the photo on the front of the card.

This card is the only one that can carry a silver-foil designator of those made from this bat, though. A couple thousand more pieces coming out of this piece won’t have that — and that’s the reality of there being just one sticker on the bat.

Too often, though, that phrase leads some people to believe that a Relic isn’t from any game, any event or any season at all. Will this trivia and added extra make this 1/1 Davis nameplate sell for substantially more than any other Davis barrel card? Probably not, but at least it can offer an example to the naysayers who think that a Relic statement means nothing at all.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball and Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazines. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisolds2009.

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5 comments

  1. Shawn Davis 10 April, 2015 at 18:08

    Wouldnt it be nice if all game used came like this. Like this is a piece of the bat derek jeter used to hit the home run that won for a walk off win on date such and such

  2. Paul Angilly 10 April, 2015 at 20:34

    Chris, I’m sorry, but the standard “not from any specific game, event or season” DOES mean nothing at all. It may not mean that all relics in cards are fake, but it doesn’t mean they’re all real, either. More importantly, for those of us who CARE what game or season a “game-used” relic comes from, the standard statement is worthless.

    In short, if I see the standard “not from any specific game, event or season” on a David Ortiz relic card, I’m simply not going to buy it. If I see “from a bat/jersey worn by Ortiz during an official game of the 2013 season,” I’m going to want it. If it’s dated to a specific game that I happened to see in person, I’ll be willing to pay about 10 times more for it.

    I know you’re trying to prove that tying a relic piece to a specific game or season doesn’t or shouldn’t matter, but that’s simply not the case for many (probably most) collectors.

  3. daryl powell 11 April, 2015 at 12:38

    I think it’s cool when you know exactly what game the piece of memorabilia in a card came from. I have a card from 2002 Topps Gold Label that has a piece of bat used to hit a home run on my birthday in 2001. to anyone else, the date probably wouldn’t matter, but to me, it adds a little extra to my collection.

  4. Paul Le Corre 14 April, 2015 at 00:33

    Great move by Topps/MLB.
    This should be the standard for relic cards.
    It might even add some extra value to the card if it was taken from a specific game with a great player performance/win.

    I’m 200% with it

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