Category Archives: Steiner Sports

Steiner Sports Adds Spice to an Already Hot Rivalry

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By Jason Klein

Originally Written For The Official Steiner Sports Blog – 5/7/10

As if fans needed any more reason to watch the greatest rivalry in sports, Steiner Sports has one more!

Now through Saturday, May 8th at 3:05 PM EST, fans who purchase Steiner Sports Yankees or Red Sox player-specific memorabilia will receive their item free of charge should that particular player hit a home run during the game.  It’s that simple.

“To celebrate this weekend’s Yankees-Red Sox Series, we wanted to offer fans this unique opportunity,” says Brandon Steiner, CEO of Steiner Sports.  “This adds another level of excitement, for fans of both teams, to a game that would ordinarily be must-watch television anyway.”

Fans can log onto www.SteinerSports.com or call 1-800-909-9162 to purchase their player-specific item.  Should that particular player hit a home run on Saturday, the fan will not be charged for their ordered item, and will receive it free of charge (however, standard shipping rates will apply).  If that player fails to hit a home run, all orders will be treated as a normal order and will be subject to any impending charges.  Fans will be asked to provide a credit card upon purchase, but will only be charged if, and only if, their particular player fails to hit a home run on May 8th.

“It’s really simple,” says Steiner.  “For example, purchase a Derek Jeter hand signed baseball from Steiner Sports prior to the game, if Derek hits a home run, you won’t be charged for that baseball.  The same would apply for all players on both teams this Saturday.”

Fans are encouraged to place their orders under the following guidelines: Orders must be placed prior to first pitch on Saturday, May 8, 2010 (approximately 3:05 PM EST).  All sales are final, even if a particular player doesn’t appear in the game.  The standard 30-day return policy does not apply.  Game used or Yankee Stadium demolition items do not apply.  This promotion cannot be combined with any other offer and is only valid on new orders placed between Thursday, May 6 at 3:00 PM and Saturday May 8 at 3:05 PM.  Should multiple players appear on a single piece, all players must hit a home run to qualify.

“This sort of promotion really appeals to all fans, no matter how big of a collector they are,” says Brett Schissler, Director of Sales.  “There is a little bit of risk involved, but ultimately, whether a particular player hits a home run or not, fans will walk away with a great Steiner Sports collectible to add to their collection.  This is a great opportunity for anyone to get a special Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or even a birthday gift for free.”

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NFL Fans Always Ready For Some Football

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By Jason Klein

Originally Written For The Official Steiner Sports Blog – 4/22/10

It’s baseball season.  So why is everyone still talking about the NFL?

Former Houston Oilers Head Coach, Jerry Glanville, once claimed the NFL stands for, “Not For Long.”  These days, the National Football League has more lasting power than ever.  It’s been nearly three full months since the New Orleans Saints hoisted the Lombardi Trophy, yet football continues to be top of mind for most sports fans.  Why?

The NFL has successfully turned the most innocuous league-related occurrences into “must-see” events.  What other professional sports league can create a buzz around the release of their upcoming schedule?  This past Tuesday, media outlets were alerted of the impending football calendar announcement to occur at 7:00 PM sharp, strategically leaking a few of the marquee matchups in the hours leading up to it.  The next morning, fans around the country were playing the ever popular “WLWLWL Game” with their co-workers and friends, sparking heated water cooler debate.

Tonight, the NFL takes center stage once again.  The 2010 NFL Draft will make a weekday appearance, and will do so under prime time’s hot lights.  This annual roster replenishment affair is often over-analyzed, contains little action, and drags on for hours, yet, few NFL fans will miss it.  Fans are so trained to hang on every NFL-related word, they’d probably watch paint dry if Chad Ochocinco were the one doing the painting.

Every morsel of NFL activity is precious, something fans should cherish…at least that’s the way the league portrays it…and why not?  Their product is unique, exciting, contains some of the biggest stars in the sports world, and is extremely limited in nature.

While leagues like Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association schedule never-ending 162 and 82-game seasons respectively, NFL teams only play 16 contests per year.  That’s it.  Each game is so meaningful, and is analyzed and promoted as individual events, rather than single games that make up a larger season.

An NFL Sunday is a holiday, a sacred day full of rituals that include face painting, jersey wearing, tailgating, chest bumps and fist pounds.  The final Sunday of the season, Super Bowl Sunday, is so big it needs two full weeks of hype leading up to it.

Fantasy football has also added to the game’s development in recent years, giving fans across the nation reason to watch out-of-market games and follow players they would otherwise have no interest in watching.  Other new technologies including Facebook and Twitter, are meticulously used by league personnel, and players, to keep fans informed, and well connected to all breaking league news.  Even Commissioner Roger Goodell operates his own Twitter account.

The league’s relationship with HBO’s “Hard Knocks” is another marketing tool working in their favor.  Each season, an NFL franchise is featured throughout training camp, granting curious fans exclusive access into the locker room, team meetings, and after-hour activities.  The show gives fans a better understanding of how a team functions, and brings them closer to some of the game’s biggest stars.

The NFL’s focused marketing strategies have its popularity rising at an alarming clip.  They have embraced technology and used it to further infiltrate their fans’ lives.  Face it, the NFL is everywhere, all the time.  There is no off-season anymore for the nation’s most popular sport.  For now, baseball is America’s Pastime. But, Not For Long.

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It’s a Hard Knock Life…For Gang Green

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By Jason Klein

Originally Written For The Official Steiner Sports Blog – 3/25/10

Move over Orphan Annie, Rex Ryan just registered for summer classes at the school of Hard Knocks.

This August, the New York Jets will be the latest team featured on HBO’s Hard Knocks, a documentary series produced in conjunction with NFL Films.  The novel reality show takes football fans behind closed doors inside an NFL locker room, giving them access to internal coaches meetings, practices, and players’ personal lives away from the field.

The Jets will be the seventh team featured on the show that first featured aBaltimore Ravensteam, in 2001, with a feisty, loud defensive coach named…Rex Ryan.

This time, Ryan is running the show in New York.  He will most likely run the show on HBO too.  His Big Apple-sized personality is the perfect fit for reality television.  His bluster and quick-witted comments will keep viewers on their toes, plus, his recent lap-band surgery, and the eating challenges that lie ahead, adds a human element sidebar that should add to the intrigue.

Throw in a marketable, second-year franchise QB (Mark Sanchez), a trash-talking veteran linebacker (Bart Scott), arguably the best defensive player in the league – barring an extended holdout, (Darrelle Revis), a young stud running back (Shonn Greene), and a newly acquired, future first-ballot Hall of Famer (Ladainian Tomlinson), and the Jets should be must-see-TV this summer.

In addition, coming off a surprisingly successful run through the AFC Playoffs in 2009, the Jets will have a “Super Bowl or Bust” mentality this season as they leave their old home behind and prepare to open up a new, state-of-the-art Stadium in the Meadowlands.  It remains to be seen whether their inclusion on the show will distract them on the way to reaching their lofty goals.

It will certainly be a learning experience…

From the school of Hard Knocks.

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Want the Dirt At Steiner Sports?

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By Jason Klein

Originally Written For The Official Steiner Sports Blog – 3/23/10

Want the dirt?  Steiner Sports has all the dirt!

Looking for the juicy details on who’s dating who from around baseball?  Want to know which players can’t stand each other, or which managers and owners are at odds?

If those scandalous details are of interest, keep looking!  Steiner Sports doesn’t have that dirt…they have THE dirt!

In 2010, Steiner Sports, an official licensee of Major League Baseball, will offer fans of all thirty clubs the opportunity to own actual dirt from their team’s home ballpark.  Buckets of game used soil will be unearthed following each team’s first home game of the 2010 season, delivered to Steiner Sports corporate headquarters, and made available for fans to own.

This is nothing new for Steiner Sports, the leader in game used collectibles, who already enjoys relationships with the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, andChicago Cubs.  However, in 2010, capsules of authentic stadium dirt will be available for all thirty teams, and will be available in a variety of formats, including team coasters, crystals,plaques and collages.

So what?  What’s the big deal?  It’s just dirt, right?

After all, players spit on it, dig their cleats into it and managers kick it in disgust, as if their earthly abuse will somehow prove a point or win an argument (see Chicago Cubs Manager, Lou Piniella).

Yet, stadium grounds crews treat it like gold, constantly grooming and raking it, hosing it off, and decorating it with white lime powder around the batter’s box and foul lines.  They make sure it’s perfectly manicured at all times.

With that said, is there any value in owning dirt?

Let’s judge the significance of Major League dirt by its role in the game’s history.  The filthy truth is, since the beginning of time, where there’s baseball, there’s dirt…ever watch “The Sandlot?”  Even in MLB stadiums featuring artificial turf, dirt can always be found somewhere on the field: on the base paths, on the mound, and in the batter’s box.

The dirt has even been a part of some of the most historical, and memorable plays of all-time.  Jackie Robinson kicked up Yankee Stadium dirt on Yogi Berra as he slid into home plate during Game 1 of the 1955 World Series.  Though the Dodgers lost the game 6-5 to the Yankees that day, they went on to win the series in 7 games.  To this day, Berra insists Robinson was out.

During the 1970 All-Star Game, American League Catcher, Ray Fosse was close lined to the Riverfront Stadium dirt in a collision with Pete Rose at the plate.  The famous altercation gave the National League a dramatic 5-4 victory, and permanently damaged Fosse’s left shoulder, and his career.

Dirt from the Oakland Coliseum covered the front of Rickey Henderson’s jersey on May 1, 1991 after he collected his 939th career stolen base, passing Lou Brock for first place all time.  Throughout his career, Henderson made a habit of getting dirty, perfecting the head-first slide and totaling 1,406 career stolen bases.

Dave Roberts turned himself into a New England folk hero when he slid head-first in the Fenway Park dirt, past Derek Jeter’s tag at second base, during Game 4 of the 2004 American League Championship Series.  The legendary stolen base, coming with the Sox down 3 games to 0 and on the brink of elimination, changed the momentum and the history of the rivalry.  The Red Sox went on to win the series in 7 games, and won their first Championship in 86 years.

Stadium dirt played, perhaps, its most prominent role in a game’s outcome during Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.  A dribbler up the first baseline, off Mookie Wilson’s bat, skipped off the Shea Stadium dirt, and under the glove of first baseman Bill Buckner.  The legendary gaffe allowed Ray Knight to score the winning run, and sent the series to a pivotal Game 7, where the Mets prevailed.

Imagine owning some MLB Authenticated Shea Stadium dirt taken from the field after Game 6 in 1986?  What if a capsule of that dirt was framed up with an 8×10 photograph of the ball bouncing through Buckner’s legs?

That’s the kind of opportunity that awaits baseball fans of all teams in 2010.  Great moments happen every day in baseball.  Commemorate those moments by owning an actual piece of the field they occur on.

Steiner Sports is just the company to make this revolutionary collectible possible.

It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it.

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Field Trip Is Perfect Formula for Yankees Success…Again.

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By Jason Klein

Originally Written For The Official Steiner Sports Blog – 3/4/10

This past Tuesday, Yankees Manager, Joe Girardi, once again played the role of Pinstriped Scientist, looking to concoct team chemistry, like he successfully did last season.  In 2009, Girardi mixed all the right elements from baseball’s periodic table.  The result: an on-field explosion that carried the Yankees all the way to a World Series Title.

Last season, Girardi conducted a bit of an experiment with his players during Spring Training.  The club traded their bats and pine tar for pool sticks and chalk, and spent the day at a local billiards joint.  The bonding session helped solidify the foundation of the team’s close-knit group, forming relationships that, many claim, set the tone for their Championship run.

If Girardi wants to end this upcoming season the same way he did last season, he figures, he should probably start it the same way too.  It’s a new tradition for the most traditional franchise in professional sports.  This year’s class trip found the Yankees at a Tampa-based arcade for a day filled with video games, skee ball, and pop-a-shot – something that resonated very positively with the players.

The stress-free environment allowed the players to forget the daily rigors of training, trying to earn a roster spot, or just fitting in.  While at the arcade, every player was on even ground.  Royce Ring could hang out with Mariano Rivera.  Ramiro Pena could socialize with Alex Rodriguez.  There were no superstars or bench players inside the arcade, a sense of equality off-the-field that should translate well into on-field team chemistry.

Wednesday afternoon, they started putting the theory to test.  It was back to business as usual at George M. Steinbrenner Field and the Yankees picked up right where they left off last November, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-3 in their first Spring Training game of the new season.  They even did it in walk-off fashion, as Colin Curtis hit a three-run home run in the 9th inning to secure the win…what, no pie?  It was a first small step towards defending their title, the 27th in franchise history.

Unlike previous camps, 2010 has been relatively smooth.  The drama and non-baseball related storylines have been non-existent.  The only real source of controversy has been over the 5th spot in the pitching rotation, a post to be filled by either Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, or a combination of Chad Gaudin, Sergio Mitre, and Alfredo Aceves.

In addition, the Yankees enter the 2010 season with some familiar faces like Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui gone, and some new additions like Curtis Granderson and Javier Vazquez onboard.  The “Core 4” of Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera will again be at the heart of the Yankee Universe, as they pursue yet another Title.  It would be the sixth career ring for each franchise icon, and the 28th Championship in club history.

First thing’s first, the Yankees have to get through eight long months of baseball before they start planning another trip down the Canyon of Heroes.  Number twenty-eight is the goal this year – the target is once again, literally, on Girardi’s back – he changed uniform numbers.  It’s a responsibility he’s thoroughly prepared for.  He methodically laid the foundation this Tuesday at the arcade, shaking things up and formulating stronger team chemistry.

After last season, he’s got this down to a science.

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Prepare for Pre-Signings

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By Jason Klein

Originally Written For The Official Steiner Sports Blog – 2/12/09

Why Wait?

Looking for something unique to add to your sports memorabilia collection?  Perhaps something specific you’ve been patiently waiting for?  There’s no need to sit back and hope that exact item miraculously finds its way into the Steiner Sports inventory.  Instead, Steiner Sports offers collectors the opportunity to take a proactive approach to upcoming athlete signings.

Long before a player picks up a Sharpie, Steiner Sports allows customers the shot to pre-order something special from a signing.  Specific requests, including personalizations and inscriptions, are taken in advance and presented to the athlete on the day of the signing.

Derek Jeter Signing at Steiner Sports

Want Eli Manningto inscribe “happy birthday” on a photo?  Not a problem.  How about a ball personalized by Derek Jeter?  Done.

Customers are even encouraged to send in personal items to be included in upcoming signings.  Such an arrangement is orchestrated via a Steiner Sports Collectibles Sales Consultant in advance of the signing.

Worried a specific piece will sell out quickly once the signing is complete?  Customers can take advantage of a pre-sale by reserving a specific photo, jersey, helmet, etc., prior to the signing.  The Steiner Sports Signings Division will make a note of the pre-order and make sure a piece is included in the signing to fulfill all requests.

“Our goal in every signing is to make sure the customer is taken care of,” says Eric Levy, the official Steiner Sports Autograph Handler.  “If a customer pre-orders an item from a signing, it gets flagged on our priority list and is given special attention during the course of the signing.  There is definitely an advantage to pre-ordering.”

Collectors can gain insider access to the Steiner Sports signing schedule by reviewing the Upcoming Signings page on SteinerSports.com.  This autograph calendar is updated daily and serves as a guideline for those looking to pre-order items.  While most signings are held within the confines of the Steiner Sports Corporate Offices, located in New Rochelle, NY, others are open to the public and held at venues like the Steiner Sports Store in Garden City, or one of the many Last Licks Locations.

As the leader in sports collectables and memorabilia, Steiner Sports enjoys exclusive autograph agreements with some of the biggest names in sports.  Players like Derek Jeter, Peyton & Eli Manning, Mariano Rivera,Dustin Pedroia, Hank Aaron, and Martin Brodeur are just some of the exclusive athletes consistently signing for Steiner Sports.

Keep in mind, there are limitations on the number of items an athlete has time to sign at a given Steiner Sports autograph session.  So, collectors interested in reserving something special from an upcoming signing should give it some thought, contact a Steiner Sports Representative, and get in on a piece of the action early.

Don’t wait!

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Script Flipped on Jets in AFC Title Game

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By Jason Klein

Originally Written For The Official Steiner Sports Blog – 1/26/10

Mark Sanchez stood at the podium, his playoff beard finally gone, like the Jets hopes of winning Super Bowl XLIV.  His “Wonderboy” T-Shirt…no where in sight, replaced now with a blank, white one, perhaps symbolic of the clean slate the New York Jets will have the next time they take the field in 2010.

All the big wins down the stretch, the top ranked defense and running game, the bluster…all just a memory now.  That’s the way it goes in the NFL.  One day you’re playing in the Conference Championship Game, only sixty minutes from Super Sunday, and the next thing you know, you’re staring at a blank page, pen in hand, script unwritten.

Unfortunately for authors like Sanchez, Head Coach, Rex Ryan, and the rest of the Jets organization, it’s often difficult to stick to any script in this league.  There are always so many variables, unforeseen injuries, salary cap calamities, unfavorable schedules, and inclement weather that could get in the way.

Opportunities like the one the Jets just had are rare in the NFL.  Bright futures can dim rather quickly.  Players age, become free agents, or retire, and windows propped open by hope and promise are humbly slammed shut with little notice.

The 2010 Jets should be favored to win their division, and contend for a place in Super Bowl XLV.  It’s exactly what awaited the 1999 Jets after losing to Denver in the AFC Title Game the year prior.  That team, devastated by a week one Achilles tendon injury to quarterback Vinny Testaverde, failed to reach their Super goal.  So have the ten Jets teams since.

It took eleven years to get back to where they were in January 1999 – a halftime lead in the AFC Championship Game, and only thirty minutes from the Super Bowl.  This year, like 1999, they failed to score in the second half as the Indianapolis Colts took the game 30-17, and punched their ticket to Miami at the Jets’ expense.

Make no mistake about it though, the Jets did not lose this game in “Same Old Jets” fashion.  They were beaten by the better team, with the better quarterback.  There is no shame in the way this latest Jets team played.  They were resilient, positive, had great team chemistry, and captured the imaginations of every fan that bleeds green and white.  Ryan made everyone a believer in 2009.

In his final team meeting of the season, Ryan told his players to “wear their Jets stuff and be proud of it.”  Why shouldn’t they?  Ryan has created a new culture within this organization, an environment that players can thrive in, and one that is enticing for prized free agents to come be a part of.

Though there is no assurance of anything in 2010 and beyond, the Jets appear to have all the pieces in place to succeed – in this unpredictable league, that’s the best any franchise can hope for.  Gang Green is set up with a young, star quarterback, a fiery, crafty head coach, a powerful defense and running game, and a brand new stadium – all components that any NFL author would salivate at the chance to write into the script.

There was no storybook ending this year, and there is no guarantee there ever will be.  But the future appears bright and Jets fans will have to wait at least one more season for the next chapter in Jets history to be written.

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Jets Fans: No Time To Just Settle, Be Super!

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By Jason Klein

Originally Written For The Official Steiner Sports Blog – 1/19/10

The “house money” is all spent.  Moral victories no longer exist.  No, that’s all over now.  Complacency expired with the clock in San Diego.

Jets 17, Chargers 14.

Get greedy Jets fans.  Gang Green is in the final four.  They are about to play in a game the franchise has only seen on three other occasions, 1968, 1982, and 1998.  The New York Jets…say it with me…are going to the AFC Championship Game and are only 60 minutes away from Super Bowl XLIV.  Believe it.

With that said, every fan who bleeds green and white should be thinking big, thinking about getting two more victories and hoisting the Lombardi Trophy amid a green and white confetti rain.  Reaching the AFC Title Game is a great achievement…no doubt.  But don’t settle here.  Don’t be satisfied with just a “great” season.  Dream of a “Super” season.  It’s now within reach.

Opportunities like these are so rare.  Teams come so close, fall just short, and then prepare for a future that may never come.  One season a franchise makes it to the Championship Game, and the next season their balloon of hopes and dreams pop like their quarterback’s Achilles tendon in week one (see Vinny & the Jets circa 1999).

There are so many variables in the NFL.  Teams battle devastating injuries, unfavorable schedules, inclement weather, a salary cap, and have to peak at the right time just to have a shot at a January run.  There are no guarantees in the NFL…well…other than Joe Willie’s pledge prior to Super Bowl III.

Namath’s magic occurred a generation ago, the 2009 Jets are trying to exorcise the demons and do something that no Jets team has done since that unforgettable day in January 1969.

This is no longer just a feel good story.  The Jets are in way too deep for that.  An appearance in the AFC Championship Game officially qualifies as “serious business.”  It’s an opportunity that may never come around again.  The New York Jets head into Indianapolis to face Peyton Manning and the Colts on Sunday at 3:00 PM.  A trip to Miami, and a place in history hangs in the balance.

No time like the present.  No guarantees for the future.  No turning back now.

Get greedy Jets fans.

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Lights Out at Meadowlands Signals Opportunity to Own History

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By Jason Klein

Originally Written For The Official Steiner Sports Blog – 1/5/10

The sign outside may have read “

Giants Stadium,” but the building finally felt like home for Jets fans on Sunday night.

The Jets, perhaps, saved their best performance for last as they did battle with the Cincinnati Bengals in the final game played in Meadowlands history.  Gang Green overcame frigid temperatures, and all the odds, to defeat the Bengals 37-0 in a rout.  In the process, they clinched the 5thseed in the AFC playoffs, the franchise’s first trip to the post season since 2006.

The Jets were destined to do what their co-tenants couldn’t the week prior.  The Giants’ final Meadowlands performance left a sour taste – falling to the Panthers 41-9 in week 16.  By contrast, the Jets refused to lose, holding the playoff-bound Bengals to just 72 total yards of offense…in the whole game!

Mark Sanchez completed an up-and-down rookie season on a high note, managing the offense and feeding Thomas Jones.  Following the game, and a refreshingly frosty Gatorade bath for head coach, Rex Ryan, players did a victory lap, shaking hands with the fans and shutting out the lights at the old building in style.

It was the final great moment inside a building that provided many along the way.  Jets fans will always remember moments like the Monday Night Miracle victory over the Dolphins in 2000, the 1999 Divisional Game against Jacksonville, and the back-to-back routs of the Packers and Colts to end the 2002 regular season and start the playoffs respectively.  Giants fans will quickly forget the team’s 2009 shortcomings and focus more on the three Lombardi Trophies, hoisted after the 1986, 1990 and 2007 seasons.

Whatever your allegiance, there is tons of history oozing from within the Meadowlands walls.  A new partnership joining Steiner Sports with the Meadowlands allows fans and football historians alike to own pieces of that nostalgia.

Interested in owning a pair of seats from within Giants Stadium?  Steiner Sports new partnership makes that possible.  Fans will have access to seats, seatbacks, pieces of the turf, goal posts, and various other items from within the building.  It’s the perfect way to commemorate the past and look forward to a bright future inside the New Meadowlands starting in 2010.

As the Jets prepare for their Wild Card Weekend rematch with Cincinnati, and the Giants start to prepare for what will no doubt be an exciting 2010 campaign, the lights inside Giants Stadium are now dark.  There will never be another game played inside the building that served as home for two teams, and enjoyed one glorious timeline of moments.

It finally felt like home for Jets fans on Sunday night.  Giants fans have always felt ownership.  With both teams moving across the parking lot next season, now it’s the fans who can start to make pieces of the building their own.

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Quick Year is a Memorable One at Steiner Sports

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By Jason Klein

Originally Written For The Official Steiner Sports Blog – 12/24/09

“Life moves pretty fast.  If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Those words, once spoken by Matthew Broderick in the 1986 hit “Ferris Bueller,” couldn’t be more apropos when thinking back on 2009 at Steiner Sports.  It was a year that had Steiner Sports employees’ heads spinning with activity and customers’ heads turning with curiosity and intrigue.  Though it flew by, it was a challenging, yet rewarding campaign, filled with moments and achievements that revolutionized the sports collectibles industry…again.

The final year of the “double zeros,” the “oughts,” or however one chooses to refer back to this decade, saw Steiner Sports prosper through three defining moments in company history, events that changed the way the company functions, and further developed the way sports fans collect memorabilia.

The Move

In recent years, Steiner Sports has developed relationships, and partnerships with some of the most successful organizations in professional and collegiate sports.  The company currently provides exclusive access to game used collectibles from the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Dallas Cowboys, and Notre Dame, Alabama, North Carolina, and Syracuse Universities.  The growing roster of partners, presented a growing inventory for a growing company occupying, what seemed like, a shrinking warehouse.

In an effort to satisfy the company’s need for more space, Steiner Sports moved into new digs in March.  Just like their pinstriped partners in the Bronx, the company shifted across the street into a new venue, better equipped to handle their needs in an ever-changing marketplace.  The move has been a positive one for all parties involved.  The state-of-the-art facility has allowed the company to function more efficiently, better serving loyal customers – many of whom made the pilgrimage over the last nine months to check out the new place.

The Seats

In 2009, Steiner Sports urged all Yankees fans and baseball historians to “Take a Seat in History.”  In May of 2009, the company announced plans to offer authentic seats, and other stadium artifacts including sod,monument park bricks, and foul pole pieces, from the original Yankee Stadium.  A flurry of activity ensued.  Eager fans were able to gobble up pieces of the historic stadium, scooping up whatever relics became available.  Owning an actual piece of Baseball’s Cathedral was an opportunity that few fans passed up on.

In addition, Original Yankee Stadium memorabilia was on display throughout the Inaugural Season inside the Great Hall, courtesy of Steiner Sports.  The Yankees-Steiner Collectibles Store flourished inside the Stadium too, giving fans insider access on game days.  Throughout the season, Steiner Sports employees were on hand to meet fans, and explain the unique line of items pulled from the “House That Ruth Built.”

What an unbelievable season it was too!  The Yankees broke in their new quarters in grand fashion!  The Greatest Closer of All-Time, Mariano Rivera, converted his 500th career save in June, and The Captain, Derek Jeter, passed Lou Gehrig on the all-time Yankees hits list in September.  Both historic moments served as appetizers for October’s (and November’s) main course…

The Title

The instant Mark Teixeira squeezed the final out of the 2009 World Series, the Yankees hard work towards a 27th Championship was over.  However, the work within the Steiner Sports office was just beginning.  Commemorative collages, plaques and crystals had already been prepared weeks in advance, but the quest towards a team signed project was quickly underway.

Over the course of about three weeks in November, twenty-nine members of the World Champions made their way through the Steiner Sports office, signing everything from team signed baseballs and photos, to game usedproduct from the 2009 season.  Once again, Steiner Sports had the most complete and intriguing collection of commemorative memorabilia to offer customers, featuring an unprecedented collection of superstars – perfect timing for the upcoming holiday season.

The Future

While 2009 was a legendary year in the history of Steiner Sports, the future is bright for the innovative leader in sports collectibles and gifts.  There are many exciting announcements on the table for 2010, events that will fire up customers, and further transform the collectibles industry.  2009 was fast.  2010 will move just as quick.  Just be sure to stop and look around.  Big things are coming so pay attention!  Bueller?

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