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Trading Memorabilia for a House

About 30 miles north of San Diego, a woman was making national news for placing an ad for a husband. She was in her late 40s and losing her health insurance. A medical condition meant $3,000 in pills each month.

Don't feel too bad for her. She had thousands of proposals and will probably work this all out just fine.

Now comes a guy in San Diego that wants to exchange his baseball cards and other sports memorabilia, for a house. He put on ad on Craigslist, and said he'd even consider a home that's a fixer-upper. Well, as long as it has a scenic view (geez...this dude better have a lot of mint condition rookie cards, maybe a Honus Wagner, Bronko Nagarski, etc).

He's saying the value of his collection is in the $500,000 price range, and has spent 50 years collection. He specialized in Yankee memorabia (and has about 28 1962 Mickey Mantle cards...although a mint conidtion one is only valued at $600).

This dude is a retired firefighter, who did some college coaching and a bit of scouting or the Toronto Blue Jays. He was even an equipment manager for the San Diego Padres in the late 80s.

He's divorced and has three sons. I'm guessing they're a bit bummed that this sweet card collection isn't getting passed down to them. But he just met his junior high school sweetheart and they got engaged.

I'm guessing when he got down on a knee, and placed a ring on her finger....the collector in him said "There goes that '57 Topps Jackie Robinson."

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Comment by Stephen Duncan on February 11, 2010 at 5:38pm: Can I trade my WIFE for a complete Beatles sig? I swear she knows how to cook and I PROMISE I will look after The Beatles autograph with my life!

Comment by Josh Board on February 11, 2010 at 7:35pm: That's hysterical, Stephen. I have a signed Beatles piece...and my friend Ric won this autographed Les Paul guitar. So, we joked. Whoever died first, the other person gets that autographed piece. I used to say that I now check my car before starting it, to make sure the brakes haven't been tampered with, or it won't blow up.

Then, I had time at this job, and started typing this fake document. It said wacky things like "I, Josh Board, being of sound mind and overweight body, give all rights to my Sgt. Pepper record, to Ric, if I shall pass (and it's deemed he had nothing to do with the death).

I even wrote "His wife isn't allowed to remarry, unless it's to me" (she was smokin' hot).

I showed him when we played Scrabble, and he laughed. He then got mad (not at the wife comment) but said "I will not sign this. I want my 3 year old son to have that guitar (at that point, he had it signed by about 15 other big name musicians). I then said "Hey...I want my 10 year old daughter to get my Sgt. Pepper record."

It was so weird how a joke, became this real thing, where we had to actually state what we really wanted to do with our autographed pieces.

Comment by Stephen Duncan on February 11, 2010 at 8:43pm: I have no doubt that your friends, because I know my friends, are already wanting their meat hooks into our stuff before our dead bodies even cool off.

I almost wish I could take "peek" into autograph collecting 10 years from now and see where/what it will all have become. Your story above, Steve's disclosure on all the fakes and frauds, Ebay, and TMZ, along with (sadly) the next 10 years of deceased artists will make today and 10 years from now look like night and day. I only hope it is for the better. Sometimes I wish I simply stuck with baseball cards and my MAD magazines...............

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