“Pin-Up” of the Week: 2017 NFL Draft Pittsburgh Steelers Dan Rooney Tribute Pin

Owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dan Rooney, passed away on April 13, 2017.  He was the son of Steelers founder Art Rooney.  Owners typically don’t have that many cards, but Dan Rooney had a few.

His most popular cards include:

• 2000 Goal Line Art Hall of Fame #203
• 2000 Goal Line Art Hall of Fame Auto #203
• 2000 Goal Line Art Hall of Fame Gold Auto #’ed/100
• 2000 Topps Hall of Fame Class of 2000 #4
• 2000 Topps Hall of Fame Class of 2000 Auto

In honor of Dan Rooney’s passing, Steelers staff wore the above pin during the 2017 NFL Draft.  I don’t have a problem with the Steelers wanting to pay tribute to Dan Rooney with this pin.  From a collecting standpoint it could easily cause some problems though.

With Dan Rooney passing away only two weeks prior to the start of the draft, there probably wasn’t enough time to design a new tribute pin from scratch.  Instead they had to improvise with what they had.  The Steelers simply took one of their misty gold lapel pins and pinned it to a green ribbon.

Does anyone else see a potential problem here?  What stops someone from buying a misty gold lapel pin for $4.95 and pinning it to easily accessible green ribbon which can be found at any craft store?  The answer is nothing.  Anyone could do that while attempting to spin a tale that it came from a Steelers staff member during the draft.

The odds of an authentic one showing up for sale are slim.  I highly doubt a large amount were put together.  It would be in poor taste if someone from the Steelers did try and make money off of it.  But it has been known to happen before.  I can imagine an authentic pin would fetch quite a bit more than $5.  The only way I’d trust that one of these Dan Rooney tribute pins is authentic is if I received one directly from a Steelers staff member.  Otherwise you’d never know.

Harrisburg Sports Card Show – February 18, 2017

It has been a long time since I’ve attended a classic shopping mall sports card show.  There has been a steady stream of them around, but none really worth going to.  On the Thursday night news during the sports segment, I overheard them state that there would be a show at the Harrisburg Mall February 17-19.  In addition to that, they also mentioned some Pittsburgh Steelers were scheduled to sign autographs.  This definitely sounded like a show worth checking out.

The Harrisburg Sports Card Show is put on by show promoter Carl Hisiro.  Autograph guests for the weekend included three Steelers – Jesse James, Stephon Tuitt, and Sean Davis.  Former Eagles wide receiver Vince Papale was also on the list to sign.  I decided to take my black/gold Penn State football and get Jesse James to autograph it.  I think it turned out really well.  By the looks of it, I bet they sold at least (200) tickets just for Jesse James.  That number might be low.  It makes perfect sense for a lot of collectors to want him given that he is a Steeler and went to Penn State.  The line moved fairly quickly as they called by ticket number.  I was #114.  While I was there, everything seemed to be running very smoothly.  It didn’t take long to get a ticket, they had merchandise you could buy to get signed, and Jesse James arrived right on time.

As for the card show portion, I’d say there were (20-25) dealers.  I didn’t see that many selling new sealed hobby boxes.  One dealer had a truckload of retail boxes though.  A good mix of vintage and new single cards could be seen.  One dealer had a few Harry Kalas bobbleheads, but I already owned them.  The one card I did inquire about was a Mike Schmidt 2001 Topps Archives Rookie Reprint Bat Relic.  There was no visible price on it, but the card was in a case with other cards listed for $10-$20.  After asking the dealer how much it cost, I found out there was a $50 price written on the back.  The lowest they would go was $40.  Well overpriced.

Overall it was a decent show.  The autograph guests are what caught my attention.  This takes me back to when I first started collecting, and met Scott Rolen at a mall show in 1996-97.

Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Jesse James

“Pin-Up” of the Week: The Terrible Towel Pin

The Terrible Towel is one of the most recognized pieces of fan merchandise in all of sports.  It was the brainchild of Steelers radio broadcaster Myron Cope back in 1975.  They needed a gimmick to help draw advertisers to their talk show, and the result was The Terrible Towel.  Since then it has been a staple within the Steelers culture.  The Terrible Towel was the first rally towel in sports.  Now teams across all sports have their own rally towels.

Over the years, there have been many different Terrible Towels made for certain occasions.  Depending on the age and occasion, these towels can be worth a lot of money.  Just check out some of these prices:

• Red Heinz Terrible Towel
• Red Heinz Terrible Towel
• Black Terrible Towel
• White Terrible Towel
• Super Bowl XIII Terrible Towel

You definitely don’t want to use those towels to wash the dishes.  This pin is just a tribute to The Terrible Towel and isn’t rare at all.  They can easily be found for a few dollars.

Steelers Contest Winner Announced

Congrats to Dustin Abernathy on being the lucky winner of the Lil’ Teammates Series 1 Pittsburgh Steelers RB figure.  Once Dustin Abernathy sends me his mailing address, I will ship this figure ASAP.  Thanks!

Steelers Contest! – NOW CLOSED

This contest will be for a Lil’ Teammates Series 1 – Pittsburgh Steelers RB figure. It comes to you mint in box.  Good luck!!!

Contest Details:

• This contest will end Sunday, March 25, 2012 @ 12:00 p.m. EST
• To enter, please leave a comment in this post
• You can enter once per day
• The winner will be selected at random
• Please provide a valid e-mail address when entering
• The winner will receive an e-mail when the contest is over
• The winner has one week to send me their contact information or the contest will be held again
• Once the contest is over, I will need the winner’s mailing address so I can ship them this figure for FREE!!!

The Steelers Contest Winner Is…

Congrats to Dawgbones on being the lucky winner of the Lil’ Teammates Series 2 Throwback Steelers QB figure.  Once Dawgbones sends me their mailing address, I will ship out this little guy ASAP.

Thanks!

Steelers Contest! – NOW CLOSED

I thought I’d hold another Lil’ Teammates contest this week.  This time the prize will be a Pittsburgh Steelers Series 2 Throwback QB.  It comes mint in box.  Good luck!!!

Contest Details:

• This contest will end Friday, December 2, 2011 @ 8:00 p.m. EST
• To enter, please leave a comment in this post
• You can enter once per day
• The winner will be selected at random
• Please provide a valid e-mail address when entering
• The winner will receive an e-mail when the contest is over
• The winner has one week to send me their contact information or the contest will be held again
• Once the contest is over, I will need the winner’s mailing address so I can ship them this figure for FREE!!!

Big 33′s “Big Memorabilia and Autograph Show”

The Big 33 Scholarship Foundation will be holding its 2nd “Big Memorabilia and Autograph Show” at the Harrisburg Mall on 11/18/11 to 11/20/11.  On Saturday, the 19th, Jerome “The Bus” Bettis, Antonio Brown, and Rocky Bleier will be signing autographs for collectors.  The autograph schedule will be:

• Jerome “The Bus” Bettis: 11:00am – 1:00pm
• Antonio Brown: 1:30pm – 3:30pm
• Rocky Bleier: 4:00pm – 6:00pm

I totally missed this show last year.  I didn’t know about it until I saw it on the news once it was over.  This year it isn’t going to get by me.  I might go for a Bleier autograph.

Lil’ Teammates Introduces Throwback Uniforms

The creative minds over at Lil’ Teammates have started to make throwback uniforms for their football players.  They’ve started with the Steelers and Patriots.  Soon they hope to move into other teams.

I love these little guys.  They beat McFarlane figures any day in my book 🙂

Steelers Coming To The Spikes

This afternoon I received an e-mail from Paul over at Phungo about two Pittsburgh Steelers coming to sign autographs at the State College Spikes this month.  On June 19th A.Q. Shipley will be at there to sign autographs and on June 21st Carey Davis will be doing the same.  I probably won’t be able to attend, but if anyone else reading Sports Card Info is from the State College area it sounds like a good time.

Click here for more information about the autograph signings.