San Francisco Giants Memorabilia Sale and Fanfest Finds

The San Francisco Giants offer two different opportunities to purchase game used caps during the offseason; an annual memorabilia sale held in mid-December and Giants Fanfest.

The December sale is usually held within a different area in the ballpark each year. It's been near the front entrance, in a cleared-out section of the team store, and this year it was held inside the actual player's clubhouse. Some years, a player (past or present) is there to sign autographs. One I can remember from a previous year was J.T. Snow. This year it was Joey Bart, one of the Giants top prospects.

Giants game used prices have been astronomical for years given the success of the franchise in the early half of the last decade, but prices have come down quite substantially in the last couple of years. The 2018 memorabilia sale was quite something as prices were the lowest I'd ever seen. They sold worn "Prolight" batting practice caps for $15. There was a massive amount of them and I ended up finding caps worn by some of the more well-known players such as Brandon Belt, Pablo Sandoval, and Hunter Pence.

The caps I brought home with me in 2018.

The 2019 sale wasn't as good, but prices have remained somewhat reasonable. 2019 batting practice caps were $25, and regular game caps were $35. Unfortunately, no caps with recognizable names were to be found among the cheap ones. Any cap worn by a player with a recognizable name was $75 and up. I ended up getting caps from prospects Austin Slater and Chris Shaw. Other interesting items for sale included removed "AT&T" signage from the ballpark as the naming rights now belong to Oracle. I also spotted Madison Bumgarner's heavily worn and faded hoodie for $600. Aside from the caps I bought, I took home a metal sign removed from a wall of the ballpark that said "AT&T Park is a smoke free facility" for $25.

At Giants Fanfest, the selection of caps had somewhat dwindled. Still lots of 2019 BP caps for $25. There were many regular gamers as well, some even going back to 2016. However, almost all of the regular gamer caps came from coaches and pitchers. The 2019 gamer caps were still $35, but previous season caps were $30. The only position player cap I found was a St. Patrick's Day cap worn Steven Duggar. I ended up settling on a 2016 orange visor cap worn by pitcher Derek Law. The cap had been marked down three times since 2016, originally priced at $100. Caps worn by recognizable players were kept behind glass display cases, again marked at $75 and up.

I am glad that Giants game used caps are finally going down (and staying down) in price. However, I have yet to see any unworn "team issued" caps offered for sale, and I've been checking regularly since 2012. With made in USA caps only being team issued from now on, I hope the Giants will offer some up for sale in the future.