A baseball card so rare that some doubted it even existed has been found in Danvers, Massachusetts.
The story of how a Babe Ruth Boston Red Sox rookie card was found is a home run in itself.
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"Oh, this story is crazy," said Jeff Gross, who collects vintage cards.
Gross loves baseball cards and has the Newburyport home office to prove it. This June, he got to talking to a guy who stopped by a family estate sale in Danvers, and the subject naturally turned to baseball cards.
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"'You have Babe Ruth Morehouse Bakery cards?' He said, 'I do,'" Gross remembered of that initial conversation.
The Danvers man, who wants to remain anonymous, told Gross his father used to collect the Morehouse Bakery cards, and more than 100, including two Ruth rookie cards, were just sitting around in boxes.
"This is Babe Ruth, 1916, rookie pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. He wasn't a Yankee yet, he wasn't hitting home runs, skinny little kid, left hander," said Gross.
The Ruth rookie card, and the rest of the collection, was a promotion by Morehouse Bakery in Lawrence, a bid to make some dough by selling more bread.
"It's actually what's on the back of these cards that is what really, really adds the value and rarity here, which is that Morehouse Baking advertising back," said PJ Kinsella, with Robert Edward Auctions, which is auctioning the Morehouse collection starting Friday. "It is a very exciting find."
The Ruth rookie card in better condition is expected to fetch at least $500,000.
Gross, who has been collecting vintage cards for years, is helping sell the cards, and he plans to have the card owner and his wife over on Friday night for a bid watching party.
"Someone said this morning, 'Does he know he won the lottery?' I said, 'He does now. He does now,'" Gross said. "My joke with my wife is next time, we will just have another yard sale and wait for the next million-dollar collection to roll in."
This is just the latest fantastic find. Earlier this year, Jason West told NBC10 Boston about his discovery of an unopened 1952 Bowman baseball card pack. He says he has yet to open the pack, which could be worth up to a million dollars.
"The whole thing is super cool," said Gross.
