Sports Investments in Montgomery is a family-owned business, and an excellent one at that, founded…read moreand led by president Steve Wolter. They say they have "one of America's finest collections" of sports memorabilia, cards, and other collectibles, and that couldn't be truer. In fact, in my most recent visit to Sports Investments, a man and his wife took a taxi all the way from downtown because the out of town guests wanted to visit the store and purchase some great memorabilia.
Part of Sports Investments is actually a museum, including a large display case containing uniforms worn by all eight starting fielders of the Big Red Machine. Along with a ton of other Pete Rose memorabilia, Sports Investments has the bat used and ball hit for Rose's record-breaking 4,192nd hit, and anchoring the store is the Corvette given to Rose in 1985 by the Marge Schott and the Reds in honor of the new "hit king." Other items from the museum and not for sale are the warm up jersey worn by former 7-foot-7 tall NBA player Manute Bol, the uniform worn by Tom Hanks in "A League of Their Own," Ted Kluszewski's legendary sleeveless jersey, original seats from Crosley Field, and other rare items such as equipment, programs, photographs, and tickets from the great moments in the history of Major League Baseball's oldest team.
Even the items they do have for sale (or consignment), may as well be a museum because you could spend literally 30-40 minutes looking at every item of memorabilia. Notable items include: a signed and framed poster by the 1992 "Dream Team" ($2295), a "Bat Pack" framed poster signed by Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Ken Griffey, Jr. ($2195), an autographed Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar framed photograph ($1475), a ton of signed NFL helmets including one by Peyton Manning ($935), a jersey signed by the Steel Curtain ($745), a Larry Bird signed jersey ($645), a "Marty and Joe" signed framed photo ($525), and all kinds of other great memorabilia and signed items from the likes of Tiger Woods, Oscar Robertson, Andre Agassi, and Johnny Unitas, just to name a few all-time greats. Really, they have signed items from almost every major athlete pasts and present. The prices are high, but you get what you pay for because Mr. Wolter is an expert and selling the top items at their true value.
If you aren't looking to spend much, they have many smaller items like signed tennis balls, golf balls, and hockey pucks, as well as other collector's items such as collector's glasses, ticket stubs, a ton of signed baseball cards, and a collection of some of the best unsigned cards from Hall of Fame players and current top athletes. They also sell packs of cards and plastic card holders for protection.
Overall, Sports Investments is an AWESOME store, and you don't have to even buy anything to enjoy it. Actually, if you have any worthwhile memorabilia and collector's items sitting around at home, they'll even consider buying from you and you can make a profit.
