UHCollector

As a lifelong Astros fan I was so happy when Jim Crane bought the team and restored the H-Star logo. It means even more seeing it on a World Series Championship ring.

As a niche collector it can be hard to find information about old bowl rings. Some of the early bowls only gave watches while other bowls gave the players options between an assortment of items (pendents, watches, rings, etc.) As you can imagine this can make collecting for one specific school a slow process but this week I was able to add a watch to my collection that I wasn't even sure existed. In 1951 UH finished 4th in the Missouri Valley Conference and earned its first ever bowl bid to take on the mighty Dayton Flyers on new year's day in the illustrious Salad Bowl (Phoenix, AZ). UH defeated Dayton 26-21 and was awarded this championship Bulova watch.

The Cubs had their ring ceremony back in April. Seems odd for Bartman to receive his ring four months later. The Cubs have gotten plenty of free publicity out of it but I wonder if they've been trying to convince him to accept it this entire time.

The Cubs buried that history last season, beating the Cleveland Indians for their first title in 108 years. Bartman was presented his ring in owner Tom Ricketts' office at Wrigley Field on Monday morning. The Cubs gave out three tiers of rings to everyone, from players to security guards. Bartman did not receive the same ring given to players; he instead received the ring given to many staff members, ESPN has learned. "On behalf of the entire Chicago Cubs organization, we are honored to present a 2016 World Series Championship Ring to Mr. Steve Bartman," Ricketts and the Cubs said in a statement. "We hope this provides closure on an unfortunate chapter of the story that has perpetuated throughout our quest to win a long-awaited World Series. Link to Full Article: Chicago Cubs giving World Series Ring to Steve Bartman

Interesting photo of the Houston Cougar Men's 4x100-meter relay team participating in the design of their national championship ring. They won on Friday (6/9/17) and were sitting down to design their ring five days later.

Things have been going pretty slow for me on the collecting front these past few months but I did manage to add this box (no ring) to my collection this week.

Actual photos of the ring look way better than the concept art. I like the use of color and the baseball stitching connecting the shanks is a really nice touch. I don't think I've ever seen that before.

College Baseball started up again this week and the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers received their NCAA National Championship Rings.

Great Grandfather's 1946 World Series Ring. He was the manager of St. Louis Cardinals in 1940s. Eddie Dyer. My uncle gave it to me for my college graduation gift. Had it for 4 years. Over 70 years old. Cardinals have been my favorite team since I was 6 because of him. - Jack Link: To Contest The local radio station is running a Show and Tell contest and one of the entries is a 1946 World Series Ring. /edit: No, that's not me.

A lot of the '90s College Bowl rings look very similar to the above design. I didn't even realize that design went back to the '60s. Here's an example of one:

30 for 30: Phi Slama Jama premiered tonight and as a result a lot of great pics from that era have been surfacing on social media. Here's a pic of Reid Gettys' rings. From left to right: 1982 NCAA Final Four, 1983 NCAA Finalist, 1984 NCAA Finalist

Wow. The detail on that ring is amazing. The city skyline shank looks awesome.

Well I know the Stabler family went to the Hall of Fame ceremony for Ken Stabler's posthumous induction. Multiple family members might have repro tribute rings for all I know. This was re-tweeted by Kendra Stabler:

I don't pretend to be an expert but I think you may be right. One of the UH team doctors was on his way to the NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremony when the pic was taken. I wonder if the family knows that it's not the original. There have certainly been a lot of examples of family members trying to sale/auction off reproduction/replacement rings.

Interesting pic of a UH Peach Bowl ring next to Kenny Stabler's Super Bowl XI ring.