There’s a story that came out the other day that confuses me. A baseball card collector named Dale Ball in Fresno, California, claims he’s holding a baseball card that might be worth millions. If proven to be real, it will put the Honus Wagner card to shame. And he only paid $2 for it, which didn’t surprise me. At first. I figured, he probably saw it at a garage sale or something. What blew me away though, is that he purchased it at Action Sports and Coin, in Sparks Nevada. He saw the price listed as “800” and asked if that was $800 or $8.00. When told it was eight bucks, and with the pawn shop having an 80% off sale, he got it for $2. The shop owner said it’s probably a fake, since he couldn’t find it anywhere online or in any magazines. The man that purchased it thinks it’s a 1921 Babe Ruth Shotwell E-121 Model, of which there are only two cards known to exist.

It’s just so odd that a shop like that would, upon not finding it on any search, would sell it so cheap. I mean, it’s one thing if somebody came in and offered you a few hundred bucks and you couldn’t find it anywhere. Then you could figure it’s a reprint of some kind. But...it’s better to store something and hope you can figure it out someday. It’s not like a card takes up much space in your shop, and what does $2 do for ya? I spent two bucks on a Big Gulp and beef jerky at 7-11 this afternoon. But I digest.

Ball said he spent 3 days researching, before he found the logo on the back of it from the “Shotwell” company. He called the Baseball Hall of Fame and told them about the card. They were rather interested in it.

It’s in the process of being authenticated now, to which my wife says, “Why is this a story now if it’s not even proven to be real? The news is covering this as if he won a million bucks.”

Ball said if the card is real he won’t sell it for less than $2 million because “I found the Mona Lisa of baseball cards.”

I’m guessing if you put $750,000 in front of him, he’d take it. He’s hoping the money will help his parents retire, and that when he originally bought it, it was just for his sons collection.

Now, the part that shows Ball is a better person than I -- he said when he does get the millions for it, he’s going to share the profits with the pawn shop in Sparks that he bought it from. Uh, why? If a pawn shop buys some Van Gogh painting from an old lady that is selling belongs from her husband that died, do they say, “Uh, you might be able to get millions for this if you auction it off instead of selling it to a pawn shop.”

If the card is a replica, and it’s determined to be worth 75 cents...would the pawn shop give him back his two dollars?