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An Incredible Story Behind Bill Ripken’s 1989 Fleer Card

Bill Ripken 1989 Fleer
This story of Bill Ripken's 1989 Fleer card will make you think twice about the history behind the memorabilia. Read the incredible story behind it here!
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Remember this? If you were a big baseball card collector, you sure do.

Bill Ripken 1989 Fleer
Bill Ripken 1989 Fleer

Here’s a story about it from CNBC, posted December 9th, 2008.

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“I got a dozen bats in front of my locker during the 1988 season. I pulled the bats out, model R161, and noticed–because of the grain patterns–that they were too heavy. But I decided I’d use one of them, at the very least, for my batting practice bat.”

“Now I had to write something on the bat. At Memorial Stadium, the bat room was not too close to the clubhouse, so I wanted to write something that I could find immediately if I looked up and it was 4:44 and I had to get out there on the field a minute later and not be late. There were five big grocery carts full of bats in there and if I wrote my number 3, it could be too confusing. So I wrote ‘F–k’ Face on it.”

“After the season was over, in early January, I got a call from our PR guy Rick Vaughn. He said, ‘Billy, we have a problem.’ And he told me what was written on the bat and I couldn’t believe it. I went to a store and saw the card and it all came back to me. We were in Fenway Park and I had just taken my first round of BP. I threw my bat to the third base side and strolled around the bases. When I was coming back, right before I got up to hit again, I remember a guy tapping me on the shoulder asking if he could take my picture. Never once did I think about it. I posed for the shot and he took it.”

Read the whole thing here.

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