By JULIET FLETCHER Staff Writer, 609-272-7251
Published: Tuesday, March 31, 2009

As the Atlantic City Surf baseball team announced its closing, club merchandise for mournful fans was scarce.

Until Monday afternoon, Ricky Pushkin thought his commemorative sports casino chips would only be of interest to gambling-obsessed collectors.

Among his collection of rare chips, Pushkin advertises a red and white chip, issued in 2002 by Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in honor of the Surf's fifth anniversary. The team's logo is splashed in blue and green on one side.

"I have one in my collection that I'll never sell," said Pushkin, a Baltimore native who visits Atlantic City's casinos at least once per month to play tables and to meet other chip collectors. "But I have at least 20 for sale."

The chip's face value reads $5; Pushkin sells them on his own site, www.all-chips.com, for $9.99.

And for anyone looking to snap up team merchandise, that deal was one of few to be found.

Online auction site eBay lists Pushkin's chips - at a slight markup to cover the site's fees - and had only one other Surf item for sale: A black retro-style T-shirt with the club's aqua logo on the front.

The staff at Beachcomber Collectibles, in the Shore Mall in Egg Harbor Township, said they had no Surf merchandise in stock at present.

In December, fans were offered the chance to bag some merchandise - with the purchase of a share of the team, through a Florida-based company named iTeam. For $150, fans received a stock certificate and merchandise valued at $80 - with some proceeds reportedly going to charity.

Representatives from iTeam, which started to offer the shares in December, could not be reached Monday evening to explain whether there would be any reimbursement for paid-up share-holding fans.

The Surf's own site still listed merchandise items for sale as of Monday evening, including a baseball with the club's logo, for $6, and a game-worn jersey for $65.

Pushkin's chips, which he picked up in person in Atlantic City, are all the more rare since not all of the original 1,000 pressed would have survived, he said.

"If they were ever cashed in," he said, "those chips would be destroyed by the casino."

The chip is one of three commemorative designs that Pushkin says were made in Atlantic City to honor sports teams, and remains a tangible reminder of the baseball team he noticed in passing.

"I can see the team's stadium from my apartment," said Pushkin, who stays near Bernie Robbins stadium on his monthly visits to the city, and would sometimes catch sight of the arena midgame.

"I couldn't really see them playing," he said, "but I used to see the lights."

E-mail Juliet Fletcher:

JFletcher@pressofac.com