Posted on 10/26/2015 5:20:38 AM PDT by lowbridge
A young Mets fan cried foul Sunday after a baseball memorabilia site suddenly balked at selling a bat signed by Daniel Murphy after his record-breaking stretch of home runs.
Will Smith, of Long Island City, used $175 of his birthday money to buy a bat signed by Daniel Murphy from Topps.com for his 12th birthday.
During the series against the Cubs, the bat was in stock online.
And a customer service rep even promised Will’s parents the Louisville Slugger would arrive in time for the big day on Nov. 3.
But the order was suddenly canceled after the Mets star second baseman broke the record with home runs in six consecutive playoff games.
“I felt tricked, like I was robbed,” Will said Sunday before working on some homework.
His father, Patrick, suspects Topps execs plan to raise the price of the signed bat. “It’s absolutely outrageous,” he said. “It’s highly unethical.”
An apologetic Topps customer service rep offered to give the family a 25% discount on a signed Mike Trout bat, according to the elder Smith.
But that collector’s item was being sold for $500 and the junior Smith, who grew up rooting for Murphy, is not an Angels fan.
“I don’t think it’s a fair exchange,” he said, noting he couldn’t afford the switch with his limited birthday loot.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Reneged on sale after accepting the money.
Wire fraud?
If the money was in their hands.....it was wire-fraud. Not smart if you ask me. Just in legal costs....it’s $100k.
That does seem to meet a fraud charge of some sort.
This should not stand.
A valid contract should be enforceable, but undoubtedly the family hasn’t the time or money to pursue it, so the seller simply says, “sorry, go sue,” and that’s that.
Hang all Topps employees and sell their families to mussie slavers...or something like that.
“One night after rewriting the franchise record books, Murphy set his sights on the Major League record books, all while helping the Mets clinch their first NL pennant in 15 years. Here’s a look at some of the top facts and figures to come out of New York’s Game 4 victory.
• Murphy’s eighth-inning homer in Game 4 made him the first player in Major League history to homer in six consecutive postseason games. He had been tied with Carlos Beltran (2004 Astros). In addition, Murphy is the only player all-time to record at least one extra-base hit and one RBI in six straight postseason games.
• Murphy now has seven home runs overall this postseason, leaving him one shy of the all-time mark. The record for most home runs in a single postseason is eight, held by Barry Bonds (2002), Beltran (’04) and Nelson Cruz (’11).
• Murphy also joins Lou Gehrig as the only players to score and drive in at least one run in seven consecutive postseason games. Murphy, however, is the only player to do so in a single postseason, as Gehrig’s seven-game streak stretched from 1928-32. ...”
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/155222956/daniel-murphy-sets-record-with-home-run-streak
Exactly. They should sue for specific performance.
Small Claims Court should be sufficient.
I bet Daniel Murphy shows up in person at this kids home and signs one of his bats just for this young fan!
Why I can’t stand baseball today. It’s a kids game that screws over kids. When I was growing up in the 60s and 70s I belonged to a little league team and they would let us kids come down to the front seats and the players would come over and sign autographs and talk to us. Never ever do I see that happening today. Now it’s all ego and rip offs. A guy bringing his kid to a baseball games and they charge him 10 bucks for a freakin’ hot dog and $8 for a bottle of water all so d-bags like A-Roid can make $20 million a year.
Holy crab thats a crabby thing to do...
What are they going to get? A few hundred more? they are going to lose thousands in negative press.
Its commercialized like everything else, you are absolutely correct. Blaming the player (like ARod) is a bit misguided though. If the players weren’t making millions, the owners would just be pocketing more money. Tickets/pricing would still be the same.
Supply and demand.
Most sports collectibles sales people are slimy.
Can 12 year olds legally contract ?
Lawyer. Pronto.
Topps can and did.
The very definition of wire fraud, actually.
The people running companies nowadays.
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