Rick Martel's Mets Memorabilia Collection Featured in Ulti-Mets Collection Episode

Having been connected to baseball for nearly half a century, Rick Martel has built up a sports memorabilia collection others only wished they had. Back in February, the Southampton Town councilman was able to show it off a little bit to one of his beloved teams.

Ulti-Met Collections, a production by the New York Mets that is published on social media platforms, visited Martel’s Hampton Bays home to check out his vast collection that spans most, if not the entirety, of his basement. Although the episode, titled “You’ll Be Amazed by This Mets Basement,” which can be found on YouTube and Facebook, focused primarily on his Mets collection, which is quite extensive, Martel also has basketball, hockey and football memorabilia and even more baseball items from the New York Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants and more.

The show’s host, Emily Reppert, stayed and learned about Martel’s collection for about four and a half hours, Martel said, which produced a 14:17 clip that has over 4,350 views on YouTube since it posted on February 17. Martel said he simply responded to a social media post from Ulti-Met Collections about his memorabilia.

“They said send us some pictures and I sent them a few pictures and they contacted me right away,” he said. “They left out a lot. They wanted me to move my Yankee Stadium sign and I had to move some little things here and there. They probably missed some things, also. I have some giveaways from the early ’60s, Seaver autographed hats. But they were really good. They were really gracious.”

Growing up in the Greenport section of Brooklyn, Martel, 63, moved to Hampton Bays when he was 12 years old. Not long after, Martel met George Skidmore, who owned Skidmore’s Sports & Styles in Hampton Bays. Martel said that he and Skidmore started to go to various trade shows in the 1970s in New York City, Atlanta, Georgia, and Atlantic City, and that’s where he started to pick up a lot of his first items. Martel took over the sporting goods store after Skidmore died in 2017.

“Say Wilson Sporting Goods had a booth, and they wanted to bring everybody to their booth, so they’d have an athlete there, or if you had a new product and you really wanted someone to look at it, instead of walking by, you brought an athlete so you could get a free autograph,” Martel explained. “I’ve met Bill Russell and Catfish Hunter, Dave Kingsman, Gale Sayers that way. When I met Gale Sayers, he said, Sit down, here’s half my sandwich.’

“I’ve never been that guy at a game trying to get a free autograph,” he said. “I actually appreciate spending some time and money with the older players because they don’t have the pensions that the newer players have.”

Martel has very much put together his collection on his own accord, but he has found some items that belonged to his old mentor and business partner after his death. Of note was a ticket stub to the last New York Giants baseball game ever played at the Polo Grounds in 1957.

“I open up a drawer that I might have been in a million times, went in one last time, and in the side of the drawer, standing up like it was meant to be there for 60 years, was the ticket stub,” Martel recalled.

The reigning Southampton Press Western Edition’s Person of the Year said he doesn’t go to too many games, although he has been to some key games, like the 1973 World Series game where Rusty Staub made a catch crashing into the wall in right field at Shea Stadium that broke his shoulder. He’s also been to the first and last games at Shea Stadium, and the first game at Citi Field.

Martel still likes to go to trade shows. In fact, he’s made so many connections over the years that at some of the local shows, he’s able to drop off what he wants signed ahead of time and also meet some of the sports stars before or after shows. He’s met and spent an hour or so, Martel said, with Carl Yastrzemski, the former Boston Red Sox great and Bridgehampton native. He’s shared the left side of the infield playing third base next to a childhood favorite, Bud Harrelson, when he was a coach with the Long Island Ducks. He also met Gary Carter when he was the manager of the Ducks for a short period of time. And he met another childhood favorite, Ed Kranepool, on numerous occasions, even spending some time with the former Met at his home and purchasing some rare items from him.

Martel said it’s a hobby that “keeps me out of trouble,” and one where his wife of nearly 40 years, Debbie, “always knows where I am. I’m downstairs.”

Of his Ulti-Met Collections episode, Martel hopes to inspire the younger generation to take part in sports memorabilia collecting.

“I love it. I hope it inspires some young kids to actually get started in collecting. Even if it’s your first ticket stubs, baseball cards, autographs, put it away,” he said. “Twenty, 30 years go by, and time flies, put it away. You’ll want those memories, especially if they’re with family and friends. You can get started and pass it on.”