The two hardest stadium giveaways that I have been searching for are a Dan Johnson/Charlie Montoyo/Jeremy Hellickson triple bobblehead celebrating the International League MVP, Pitcher of the Year, and Manager of the Year. The other was a statue the Bulls gave out to commemorate an appearance Derek Jeter made in Durham while he was on an injury rehab assignment in 1998. Both items have been rather elusive.
Except, I found one of them last week.
A look at the front of my Derek Jeter Statue
Jeter is wearing a Columbus Clippers uni on the statue. There is a faux autograph on the top, serial number out of 1,500 on the side, and the front has his name and date of appearance at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. I am not sure exactly when the statute was given out by the Bulls, there are several different dates that I have seen floating around the internet. The Bulls do stagger their giveaways at times between the different season ticket plans, but some of the dates aren't even within the same calendar date. The statue is similar in style to a David Price figurine the Bulls gave away about seven years ago.
The bases are done in similar styles with the faux black wood base, the sponsor stamp in silver in the corner, and some other similarities on the figurines. A few of the dates I have seen had the Jeter statue being a giveaway as early as 2000, but I think it has to be much later.
The back of the Jeter Statue.....
and finally a side of the statue from a lower angle.....
Overall, I really happy to have been able to find this piece and will have to find it a space on my Durham Bulls shelf sometime this week.
That is surprisingly cool.
ReplyDeleteI have one of those 1254 out of 1500 limited edition. I m wondering how much it does worth now?
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