OJ ACCUSER SPEAKS TO THE BRILL REPORT
VOLUME 2, NUMBER 169
HOT*BUTTON*STORY
(JOBA FACING LEFT, MAKING MONEY TO THE RIGHT!!!)
** O-J SIMPSON ACCUSER SEEKS OUT BRILL REPORT
** IS TOPPS AT IT AGAIN WITH "ERROR" CARDS?
** MORE MIXED UP CARDS MAKING NEWS/SALES
** MIXED MARTIAL ARTS MAKING HOBBY SING
** FORMER U-D EXEC LANDS C-F-O JOB
** NEW BOOK ON SLEAZY PACK SEARCH HITS SHELF
** COLLECTIBLES AND RETIREMENT? NOPE
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DETAILS ON THESE STORIES AND MORE IN TODAY'S TBR: THE BRILL REPORT...
EDITORIAL POSITION: TOPPS AT IT AGAIN? WE THINK SO
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(O-J SIMPSON ACCUSER SPEAKS OUT IN INTERVIEW WITH THE BRILL REPORT)
When memorabilia dealer Bruce Fromong said he wanted to tell the "Real" story behind what happened that night in a Las Vegas Hotel Room, he called The Brill Report. It is a case of what happens in Vegas doesn't necessarily stay in Vegas.
"There were approximately 700 items in that room --- 12 or 13 once belonged to O-J."
"Kidnapping --- we were held against our will."
"There was another dealer --- with thousands of O-J items --- who didn't show."
"O-J Simpson is guilty of what he is charged with."
"They came in with guns --- O-J never had a gun."
The above are all quotes attributed to Fromong in his exclusive interview with TBR this week. It gives you an overview of what really happened. Below is our story.
("Simpson had been mis-informed" -- Fromong)
Bruce Fromong, a memorabilia dealer who goes by "Superbowlkid" on eBay as well as selling wholesale, says it is a night he will never forget. Four men burst into his hotel room, two of them with loaded semi-automatic hand guns, followed by O-J Simpson.
"One of the guns was pointed directly at my face," said Fromong who admitted fear at that point but relief when Simpson walked in. "My first thought honestly was 'O-J how stupid can you be?' everyone in this room knows who you are."
Fromong says Simpson began yelling at Al Beardsly who brought Fromong and Tom Riccio together for it was Riccio who set up the meeting. Then Simpson made what could be his ultimate mistake. It was a mistake which led to the worst charge he is facing; kidnapping.
"Once they got into the room he told his guys 'nobody leaves this room, don't let anybody leave' we were held there against our will, which is kidnapping," Fromong told TBR. "I want to make one thing perfectly clear, there were guns but O-J himself never had a gun."
Fromong said there was supposed to be another dealer who had lots of Simpson personal memorabilia who did not show up for the meeting. He would not divulge his name, stating the investigation is on-going.
"He literally has thousands of pieces everything from photographs and negatives and stuff from O-J's childhood, but he had acquired them legally as well from a storage place which hadn't been paid for and it went to auction," added Fromong. "O-J had been misinformed, Riccio and he should have realized that when he came in and saw it all (Fromong's memorabilia)."
Of the 700 items in the room belonging to Fromong, he says only about a dozen were once owned by Simpson and the dealer said he got those "by legal means."
"There was a Joe Montana litho, a Pete Rose signed ball, a Duke Snider signed ball and more," he told TBR. "I was told I was going to meet a high profile buyer who liked to buy personal items from athletes and was interested in O-J Simpson items and I was told to bring other stuff as well."
As for the FBI knowing three weeks ahead of time, Fromong has no trouble believing this at all.
"Riccio had gone to the FBI and tried to pass this idea onto them he wanted to work for them and to recover this stuff for Simpson," said Fromong. "There was not a lot of merit and I'd been told Riccio was a convicted felon and there is not a lot of credibility there."
Fromong says he spent 20 years in the military, had "secret clearance" and an honorable discharge. He adds he's built his business from scratch and is doing very well mainly due to his honesty in dealing with people. The dealer tells TBR he worked for Simpson previously as an agent along with Mike Gilbert who ran Locker 32 which was Simpson's memorabilia company.
"I had about $100,000 worth of memorabilia confiscated in that incident and it's slowed down business some, but that's okay," said Fromong. "If O-J had realized it was me he was meeting he probably would have said 'okay everybody out Bruce and I need to talk' and we could have straightened this all out."
("Yeh, he's guilty," said Fromong of the Juice.)
As for being guilty? Fromong says there is no other conclusion.
"He is guilty of what he is charged with -- he had the option to go into that room or not to, he knew there were guns there, he was walking into a situation he knew exactly," he said. "He said he wanted to walk in and get his stuff well you don't walk in with guns."
Fromong said he will continue to sell Simpson items adding for every five people who won't buy Simpson memorabilia there is one who remembers the glory days and will buy. The dealer said he contacted TBR because he says "he's been unfairly lumped together with some unsavory characters." Overall, it's been a bizarre situation which isn't over yet.
(Simpson in the Glory Days.)
"This isn't the old O-J Simpson we remember doing charity work and as an actor, foot ballplayer and announcer," Fromong lamented. "This is an O-J Simpson doing irrational things."
For his part, Fromong would love to have his memorabilia returned to him, and as for former O-J agent in memorabilia, Mike Gilbert?
"I don't know where he's at, I haven't heard from him in a long time.
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(JOBA REVERSE NEGATIVE?)
Here we go again! Topps Update and Highlights seems to have a hot card Topps released without letting anyone know in advance?
The "Reverse Negative" Joba Chamberlain No. 312, the hot Yankee rookie pitcher, is selling for strong numbers. Three have sold so far with the highest selling for $300. Today two have been purchased by a Fontana, California collector going by the eBay name 401Kards, while the other now belongs to MSNBC host and the hobby's premier collector among the well know, Keith Olbermann.
No word yet from Topps as to how this card got out or if it was planned. Topps will likely deny it was released on purpose but collectors and dealers are wondering why a key card such as a Chamberlain RC would just happen to be the "rare" reverse negative.
In the debut 1989 Upper Deck set a hot Dale Murphy card was the key error card in a year when collectors were chasing "error cards." His too was a reverse negative. The following year, 1990, it seemed every card manufacturer had numerous "error" cards including several of the Nolan Ryan error cards which went to ridiculous lengths to reach error status.
In the first series of Topps a card featuring Derek Jeter, George Bush (in the crowd) and Mickey Mantle (in the dugout) sent collectors and new collectors chasing hard and fast. They were also paying what most would call "stupid" dollars for the common card. As it turns out it was a common, and not an error card. The previous season it was the Alex Gordon rookie card which was featured in several dimensions; full, cut, cut out and many different versions of color coding.
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(TOPPS UPDATE RARE CARDS)
Two additional cards are selling well as Short Prints from Topps Update & Highlights. The Poley Walnuts card, featuring a squirrel who hangs around Yankee Stadium, is becoming a hot favorite. The card is selling for as high as $200 but has settled in for much less as several dozen have popped up on eBay.
(Poley Walnuts? A Topps 2007 U&H Shortprint.)
The other seems to be possibly another one of those suspected planned errors. The other hot rookie toward the end of the season and in the playoffs was Red Sox youngster Jacoby Ellsbury.
The Ellsbury card is wrongly given the no. 100 which belongs to another player on the checklist. The no. 100 Ellsbury does seem to be rare while many have sold on eBay for up to $243. Over 50 have sold on eBay as of today.
The two different cards, the squirrel being strange enough for a baseball card, are good for the hobby in terms of hobby-speak.
(Card no. 100 Joba Chamberlain is pulling up to $243) on eBay after error was discovered. The card on the checklist belongs to Abraham Nunez.)
Ellsbury's card looks to be a true error whether or not it was planned by Topps. This happened back in 1995 when Carlos Beltran and Juan LeBron were on the same card under different versions. The switched pictures was a true error card. The photo with Lebron's face is considered Beltran's RC because his name is on the card. The card actually picturing Beltran is only worth a minimal amount, except to master collectors who must have both versions to complete a set.
Error in photo cards is nothing new. Former Angel Aurelio Rodriguez's rookie card actually pictured the Angel's batboy but the card was never corrected.
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(NEW ENGLAND FANS LOOKING FOR BANNER YEAR)
The Patriots 24-20 win over previously unbeaten Indianapolis on Sunday has New England fans salivating for what could be a sports championship trifecta. The Red Sox won only their second World Series in 90 years and second by the way in the last four years, the Pats could win another Super Bowl and the lowly Celtics are off to a hot start.
If the latter two do win championships trading card companies are going to have to seek permission to make some sort of triple series of cards featuring all three winners.
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(MIXED MARTIAL ARTS AND NEW ACTION FIGURES)
Do you know who this man is? He could easily do an American Express commercial because most of America couldn't tell you who Matt Hughs really is simply because Mixed Martial Arts, while a growing sport, isn't a main stream sport.
Hughs, a bona fide champ in the MMA, is getting his own Action figure soon to be available at leading toy stores across the nation. Mixed Martial Arts is a sport being promoted heavily through Pay Per View and while it isn't challenging Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) just yet, don't write it off.
The Action Figures are being released by Round 5 out of Ontario, Canada. Hughs by the way is a nine time UFC champion as well.
(MMA figures who are seen regularly on Spike TV.)
"This first series showcases the most exciting championship fighters to date in their most well known poses," said Barron Lau, marketing director for the Canadian company. "We are honored to be releasing these collectibles at a time when the sport has achieved so much success."
The dolls are six inches high and feature strong details. MMA is shown on Spike TV, a male dominated sports network developed in recent years.
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(FORMER UPPER DECK EXEC LANDS NEW JOB)
Former Upper Deck executive, Ruby Randall, is the new Chief Operating Officer at Vistage International in San Diego. Randall's previous position was at Robbins Research International in the same city, where she was President and CEO.
Randall will oversee internal operations at the company which touts itself as being dedicated to enhancing the lives of chief executives around the globe and states it generates $300 billion in annual revenue.
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(NEW BOOK CITES SLEAZY GUY WHO RIPPED COLLECTORS BY "SEARCHING")
The book is entitled "Running the Table" and it details the life of pool player, Danny Basavich, also known as Kid Delicious. The Kid as the book details was a hustler who at one point quit his $4 an hour job because during one phase of the baseball card craze he became one of the world's best "pack searchers."
(Danny "Kid Delicious" Basavich, pack searcher.)
He would go into Wal-Mart and other stores with a micrometer and measure Upper Deck packs to find the thickest ones, or the ones with the key inserts. He soon learned Topps packs of cards, at that point, featured certain runs. By slightly opening a pack and seeing one card, he could tell if there were other valuable rookie cards in the pack.
"He would purchase packs for $1 and sell the contents for ten times that," the book states.
His parents thought he was selling drugs because he was buying, selling and spending so fast it took them by surprise. They owned a clothing store in Brooklyn but the family had moved to New Jersey long before.
He was later busted for running school gambling pools as well as other misdeeds. A true hustler, the L. John Wertheim book depicts the New Yorker as the, always looking for an angle kid, gone wrong the right. The most well known of the recent pool hustlers the Kid Delicious book is must reading for any card dealer although "collectors" might want to swear off. It might depress you.
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(GETTING RICH ON CARDS AND COLLECTIBLES? FOOL SAYS NO)
Getting rich on your sportscards and collectibles is possible, but according to one "expert" in the field don't count your cards just yet. The "expert" field by the way is not collecting, but financial business and retirement. John Rosevear writes for Motley Fool, the highly respected series of columns dealing with stock and business and as an avid car collector he says cards and collectibles will help but they should only be part of your portfolio.
"Markets aren't terribly liquid and valuations are subject to whims and fads and fluctuate wildly," he writes. "Unless you are a professional car broker, numismatist, art dealer or similar expert it is difficult to know the true value of a particular item and predicting the direction of the market can be a crap shoot even for experts."
All of the above is accurate and he goes on to point out collectibles do well as part of your portfolio because they are poorly correlated with the stock market. At TBR we've always pointed out the beauty of collectibles is their own intrinsic value as well as something you can hold in your hand. It is a prooven fact when economy is soft and the market drops, vintage collectibles seem to come to the top. It seems, just a bit of a hedge, that when folks are unsure of the market they find assurance in collectibles, vintage collectibles.
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