Steroids Report a Concern Among Baseball Collectors

The cloud of steroids-abuse allegations surrounding Major League Baseball after Thursday's long-awaited, much anticipated Mitchell Report is already having a negative impact on dozens of people in the Triangle.

They are sports memorabilia dealers who are at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds for a sports card and memorabilia show. They said Friday that the steroids controversy is hurting the values of collectibles of the players involved.

Like he did with opposing batters, Roger Clemens is creating some heat – this time for dealers like Vann Martin.

"The sooner I get rid of Clemens items, the better I'll be, probably," Martin said.

The long-term impact of the report by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell is still not clear. But the values of Mark McGuire's and Barry Bonds' collectibles have taken a significant hit over the past few years since they were first associated with steroids.

The show in Raleigh runs through Sunday. Former New York Yankee Johnny Blanchard will be there all day Saturday signing autographs.

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Latest Comments

For the record, I meant to type "evidently"

Tom Bombadil
December 15, 2007 4:52 p.m.

All of you need to recognize that baseball card collecting is an art. The art of collecting all sportscards boasts the benefits of liquidity, standardization, and ease of storage and transport. They are impervious to all elements and are extremely rare in most cases. The accumulation of cards is not time-consuming nor socially isolating. And last but not least, collecting these cards is edivently quite ego-inflating while assigning a collectors personality a PSA 1.

Tom Bombadil
December 15, 2007 4:48 p.m.

Crisp, I have many. But for the sake of simplicity, I will say that I am a successful, well-rounded person. I wouldn't reveal the specifics on a public forum. And, my financial well-being is my business. I have taught more people more things than you could imagine. I don't praise God for it either, I have a great work ethic, and maximize my intellect IMO. I also don't look down on those less endowed or less fortunate than I. I look up to those who are more well-endowed, but are humble about it.

Hammerhead
December 15, 2007 3:37 p.m.

to Hammerhead:

Hey, I'm proud of my accomplishments and the successes I have had in my life. I'm grateful that God have given me the abilities I have and a mind that I can use. And I have no problem telling others about me simply to be a possible role model for others who also want to be successful.

It's really not my fault that you do not have any capabilities worth speaking of.