Want Some Dirt With Your Collectibles?

The increasing number of collectible products that incorporate game-used dirt from major league parks is the subject of a piece in the current issue of Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal.

Brandon Steiner, CEO of Steiner Sports, is quoted as saying items featuring game-used dirt account for more than 25 percent of his company’s business since the closing of Yankee Stadium (Steiner offers items with dirt from Yankee Stadium and a handful of other MLB parks).

Benny Greenberg, director of sales and marketing for Highland Mint, said that game-used dirt is “an inexpensive way to deliver game-used memorabilia, and that is what’s been driving the market for at least a decade.”

Colin Hagen, VP of hard goods for MLB Properties, said the league has been authenticating dirt from all of its parks for about five years.

Steiner is also quoted in the story as saying the company will soon offer portions of turf from the old Yankee Stadium.