2011 Clubhouse Sale Review

[jnorman76]

I thought I'd share my experience this afternoon for anyone looking to go tomorrow.

 

In four words: not bad, not great. Lots of t-shirts and sweatshirts from the post-season run, lots of jerseys (some reasonably priced), some decent premium items, but all in all, underwhelming. Lots of game used stuff, but prices were atrocious ($200 or more for even less popular players, $1500 for Braun / Fielder game worn jerseys, $300+ for game bats).

 

Honestly, this sale was a lot better in terms of pricing three to four years ago. Everything feels overpriced.

 

I did, however, pick up a pretty cool collectible I had never seen before: a 1972 record called "Inside Baseball with the Milwaukee Brewers." It features Dave May, Jen Sanders, Billy Conigilaro, Ron Theobald, Jim Lonborg and Del Crandall.

 

I picked up a few of them, if anyone's interested in trading for them.

[TURBO]

lol

 

My Dad just picked up a copy of that record for me a couple weeks ago at a flea market. Paid $1 for it. I had never seen it either.

 

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n136/turborickey/brewers/breweralbum001.jpg

 

 

[BrewersSuperCollector]

lol

 

My Dad just picked up a copy of that record for me a couple weeks ago at a flea market. Paid $1 for it. I had never seen it either.

 

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n136/turborickey/brewers/breweralbum001.jpg

 

 

 

Thats how much they were at the sale $1. A guy came up and bought the whole stack of about 40 of them.

 

[Rillo]

I saw the guy checking out with the giant stack of them. Thankfully I was able to grab 2 of them before he got to the stack. Overall very underwhelmed by the selection this year, granted I assume prices will go down by Saturday.

[jnorman76]

I saw the guy checking out with the giant stack of them. Thankfully I was able to grab 2 of them before he got to the stack. Overall very underwhelmed by the selection this year, granted I assume prices will go down by Saturday.

I don't see massive markdowns, but it may be worth doing one more run through. Anyone ever had any success with that?

[BrewersSuperCollector]

I saw the guy checking out with the giant stack of them. Thankfully I was able to grab 2 of them before he got to the stack. Overall very underwhelmed by the selection this year, granted I assume prices will go down by Saturday.

I don't see massive markdowns, but it may be worth doing one more run through. Anyone ever had any success with that?

Last year when I went on the last day all the player T-shirts with the names on the back were marked down to $1. I bought about 25 of them. Some of the $30-40 stuff was slashed down another $10 bucks or so.

 

They keep restocking the racks as the days go on, so if something sells they replnish it with more. I don't know where they have all this stuff, because there is a lot I've never seen before.

 

[Rillo]

I saw the guy checking out with the giant stack of them. Thankfully I was able to grab 2 of them before he got to the stack. Overall very underwhelmed by the selection this year, granted I assume prices will go down by Saturday.

I don't see massive markdowns, but it may be worth doing one more run through. Anyone ever had any success with that?

In 2008 I went on the last day and picked up a Wild Card polo for 5 bucks that was 20 the other days. Granted, the sizes were much more limited, I could see them doing the same thing with playoff stuff this year. Also, the jackets went down an extra 10 bucks last year. I think the biggest deals will be on the things they are in a rush to get rid of though, such as player t's for players no longer with the team and playoff items.

[Bikeage77]

i got myself an onfield hoodie, a k-rod tee, a counsell tee for my fiance, the county stadium book, 5 records, and a miller park 10th anniversary pint glass. they had the shot glasses for 5...all and all it was pretty crowded...last year i got a mike cameron bat for 75, this year i saw dave bush bats for 125. prices did go up on game used stuff. they had one fitted hat I liked for 10 or 15, but i have enough brewers hats so i passed.

 

Did anyone see any pennants or playoff programs? I was hoping to come across those as in 2008 they were a buck. But didn't see any.

 

It's funny someone bought 40-50 records. I mean, if the Brewers can't sell em... but I'm sure he can get 3-5 for each of them. I just don't have that kinda patience.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

There were some Fielder game issued pink bats for $350. I'm sure someone is going to go home with them and "make" them game used. Counsell game issued pink bats for $200. Axford playoff (not sure which series) locker name plate for the low low price of $400. And no I didn't add in an extra zero.

 

Champagne bottles are$250.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

I just looked at my receipt. Here is what I purchased...

2 2011 Media Guides $1 each

6 2011 Yearbooks $1 each

2 1972 Brewers records $1 each

1 Brewers adjustable hat(I'm picky) $10

2 pink knit skull hats for my girls $5 each

1 70's M logo shot glass $5

1 dinged up Brewers trash can $5

3 Brewers pins $2 each

1 Mini Escobar bighead/bobblehead $1

1 Gallardo youth t-shirt $5

1 Brewers logo design baseball $3

[bani1717]

how much were the playoff t-shirts and sweatshirts today? I'm hoping they're marked down more before I go tomorrow morning...

[Vgmastr]

Playoff t-shirts were $15, sweatshirts were $40, hats were $10.

 

I got a polo for $30, a really nice button down t-shirt/jersey for $20, Down on the Valley for $5, a yearbook for $1, and an Angel Echevarria spring training nameplate for $1.

 

One interesting thing I found was a nameplate for Chris Kottaras. Seems like whoever was in charge of printing out nameplates gave poor George the wrong first name. The cheapest game used jersey I found was for $50 with the name Bray on the back. Now, I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about the Brewers, but I had no recollection of anyone named Bray. Looking up the name now, it was Steve Bray, a rule 5 selection in 2006.

[bigjase]

Did they have any current player bobbleheads for sale? If so, what was the price?

[BrewersSuperCollector]

Did they have any current player bobbleheads for sale? If so, what was the price?

No, In the past those have gone to the wives charity events. I'm sure they will be in grab bags and maybe on the chrity tables at On Deck.

 

The only thing they had was a Mini Big Head of Escobar for $1.

 

[jlau20]

Did anyone see any pennants or playoff programs? I was hoping to come across those as in 2008 they were a buck. But didn't see any.

Anyone come across pennants or programs later in the day? These are really the only two things I'm looking for and if no one's seen them out probably won't bother heading down there tomorrow.

[madgrad]

I saw a stack of penance with Braun in them, not sure if they were Playoff or not. Also don't know the price if anyone else can confirm.

[Vgmastr]

The Braun pennants were MVP pennants and were $10.

[gypcasino]

My friend went on Thursday and all she found that I was interested in was the $1 yearbook and $1 media guide. She said there were no postseason shirts or caps, just a $10 knit hat. They must not have had those playoff shirts out at that time.

[tristarscoop]

I went Thursday night for the SSH preview. My ticket said 5:00, but apparently the higher up holders were able to get in at 4:00. I got there about 4 and got in line with the 5:00 people- I was about 10 back. They actually let us down about 4:30. We walked right into the clubhouse and there were a few people in there, but it was relatively uncrowded. That changed fairly quickly. I'd estimate there were 75 people in line to pay and up to 400 people in line to enter the clubhouse as I left at about 5:15. The line reached from inside the clubhouse all the way back to the elevator and the clubhouse itself was so stuffed with people you could barely move.

 

I was hoping to find some of the Banner 47 gear that always priced over $100 in the team store during the season. There was no much of it and what they had was pretty much only size S or M.

 

The game-used stuff was incredibly pricey. The scorecards dated back to 2008 and when the Brewers Charities sold them at their table during the season they were $20. At the Clubhouse Sale they were $35. Empty champagne bottles were $250. A worn Jeff Suppan and a worn Felipe Lopez jersey were $250 each. Replica Trevor Hoffman jerseys were $50-$75.

 

What I bought:

The five plush Racing Sausages - they're bigger than 24" and they were $10 each (for my nephew)

2 women's hats - $10 each

Slightly dinged garbage can - $5

Hard plastic Jody Gerut nameplate - $5 (I have a game worn Gerut jersey and hope to make a locker)

Laminated nameplates $1 - Bill Hall, Ronnie Belliard, Dave Krynzel, Curtis Leskanic

2 of the above-mentioned records - $1 each

2011 Yearbook - $1

 

They were also selling some old concession stand ephemera and I bought a 24x36 sign that has the Racing Sausages on it and says "When you run out of Klements, you run out of taste" and some single line slides that say Klements brat, italian, hot dog, chorizo and polish. I paid $1 for the lot.

http://s1-01.twitpicproxy...otos/large/461552364.jpg

 

As the team's gotten better/more popular, the fun of the sale has gone down.

[hawing]

We arrived at Miller Park a little before 1:00 Friday. There were a lot of fans in the clubhouse throughout our visit, but we never encountered a line during the hour we spent there. I occasionally had to wait for someone to move from a rack before I could take a good look at the contents, but it wasn't like I couldn't move around or anything.

 

Thanks to my Brewerfan and Twitter sources, I had an idea of what to expect already. The only postseason shirts I was in the market for were kid sizes for nephews, so those each set me back $10. For adults, this year's sale was a good time to be size S or XXL, as that's most of what I found. During our visit, the "shirsey" table included $5 shirts for Mitre, Felipe Lopez (someone explain to me why the Brewers even bothered to print up shirts for him during the month-or-so he spent here this year), Escobar, Stetter and at least one XXL Betancourt. The 1972 LP mentioned above was still available. There were some pretty ugly caps whose design motif I can only describe as "spackle."

 

The game-used items provided the usual mixture of entertainment and surprise (the surprises mostly coming in the form of "they want this much for this guy?!?"). Though several of my internet Brewers pals pointed out to me in advance the existence of several Doug Davis jerseys, I'd prefer to remember him in his #49 seasons, rather than his dreadful #25 year. I did spring for the $175 navy Joe Inglett jersey, partly because it's navy, partly because Joe Inglett wore size 46 which actually sort of fits me, and partly because Joe Inglett reminds me of the great 8/6/2010 comeback vs. Houston, which was my favorite game of that season.

 

Other jersey surprises (besides the unpleasant surprises of the Brewers trying to get hundreds of dollars for a Suppan) included a 2001 Jose Hernandez navy jersey - imagine how many times they've tried to sell that one - a couple of gray PIRATEN jerseys from the PIT-MIL Bierbrauer game, and a bizarre navy jersey personalized with PLAYER 11.

 

There was a CC Sabathia retro BP jersey that reached my knees when I held it up to my shoulders. Seriously. And they wanted $700 for it. The amusing/potentially useful thing about the retro BP jerseys (these are royal blue with gold lettering) is that each bears a pricetag saying who used it, though the names don't appear on the jerseys - and they're priced according to the Brewers' perceived value of the player who used it. So a #32 jersey that LaTroy Hawkins wore cost $250, but you could spend $125 for an identical-looking #32 jersey that Carlos Corporan wore. Who would know?

 

We also got some cheap entertainment out of the locker nameplates, mostly "remember that guy?" type names plus good ol' "Chris Kottaras." If you were in the mood to be reminded of such legends as Gus Gandarillas, David Pember, Chris Saenz, Luis Vizcaino, and many, many others, the stack of locker nameplates was the place for you. You had your super-sub-basement $1 plates (like James Mouton and Jim Bruske, which I now own), your regular basement $5-$25 plates (Glendon Rusch for $25? Really?) and the current players' plates (many of which were from the NLDS) fetched hundreds of dollars. Yes. $300 for a Mark Kotsay nameplate.

 

It's reminiscent of the 2008 sale, when there was just a postseason appearance, interest was increased and the Brewers figured they'd make $ off the extra interest. I was surprised there wasn't more postseason merchandise, though - like bumperstickers/magnets/keychains. Still, it's soothing just to have a reason to go to the ballpark.

[hawing]

Did anyone see any pennants or playoff programs? I was hoping to come across those as in 2008 they were a buck. But didn't see any.

Anyone come across pennants or programs later in the day? These are really the only two things I'm looking for and if no one's seen them out probably won't bother heading down there tomorrow.

The team store (upstairs) had NLCS programs for $6. I never saw any NLDS programs either in the clubhouse or in the team store. I also never saw any postseason pennants, which seems a little odd since if nothing else they'll be 2011 NL Central Champions forever.

[Baldkin]

During our visit, the "shirsey" table included $5 shirts for Mitre, Felipe Lopez (someone explain to me why the Brewers even bothered to print up shirts for him during the month-or-so he spent here this year)

They managed to do that, but they still didn't have any Taylor Green shirts even during the playoffs. Unreal.

[Vgmastr]

Other jersey surprises (besides the unpleasant surprises of the Brewers trying to get hundreds of dollars for a Suppan) included a 2001 Jose Hernandez navy jersey - imagine how many times they've tried to sell that one - a couple of gray PIRATEN jerseys from the PIT-MIL Bierbrauer game, and a bizarre navy jersey personalized with PLAYER 11.

This reminded of something I forgot, there was a retro Phillies Chase Utley jersey from last season's 1970s weekend.

We also got some cheap entertainment out of the locker nameplates,

mostly "remember that guy?" type names plus good ol' "Chris Kottaras."

If you were in the mood to be reminded of such legends as Gus

Gandarillas, David Pember, Chris Saenz, Luis Vizcaino, and many, many

others, the stack of locker nameplates was the place for you. You had

your super-sub-basement $1 plates (like James Mouton and Jim Bruske,

which I now own), your regular basement $5-$25 plates (Glendon Rusch for

$25? Really?) and the current players' plates (many of which were from

the NLDS) fetched hundreds of dollars. Yes. $300 for a Mark Kotsay

nameplate.

Going through the nameplates is always my favorite part of the sale, but I've never sprung for one until this year. My dad loved Angel Echevarria solely because he loved saying his name, so when I saw the $1 Echevarria nameplate I had to grab it.

 

There was a t-shirt I really, really wanted, but they only had S. It was a '47 brand shirt, which I love, and it was dark green and had knit letters spelling Brewers on the front in the '90s German uniform font. It just looked really cool, and you never see any '90s retro merchandise. I had never seen it before, because if I had, I probably would have paid full price for it. I wear M, and might have been able to fit in it, but those shirts tend to run small and for $20 didn't want to chance it.

[madgrad]

Nameplates. My wife saw someone spring $600 for a Braun Playoff one...RIDICULOUS! It's a fricken piece of plastic with a players name on it, I can print one myself. What's the big deal?

[tristarscoop]

Oh Hawing, if I'd have seen a Piraten jersey, I'd have probably had a hard time not buying it. I don't know why, but I frickin' loved the whole Piraten thing. We called them Piraten for the rest of the season and I'm sure that will continue next season. I'm seriously a bit heartbroken I never saw that. Any idea how much they were selling for?