Ty Cobb Baseball Cards Worth $1 Million Found In Trash

Seven rare Ty Cobb baseball cards have been found in a bag of trash. The Cobb cards, which were all in remarkable condition, were found last month in an empty house in unidentified town in a southern state of the U.S. As reported by the Washington Post, the cards were found by the original owners’ great-grandchildren. The family does not wish to be named.

The Ty Cobb cards were found mixed in with postcards and family artifacts, and although none of the family are great baseball fans, they had heard of the name “Ty Cobb,” and so thought the cards might be worth something. It turns out the cards were printed between 1909 and 1911, and are worth an estimated $1 million.

The Cobb cards were part of a lot named T206, which were sold with tobacco. According to the Washington Post, the T206 lot is “now one of the most prized in collecting, and it includes the legendary ‘T206 Honus Wagner,’ a card that has sold for upward of $2 million.”

Ty Cobb is widely regarding as one of the greatest baseball players to ever catch a ball. Born Tyrus Raymond Cobb in rural Georgia, Cobb was nicknamed the “Georgia Peach.” Although Cobb was an outfielder, he is legendary as an all-rounder. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers before finishing his career with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1928. Cobb held many records during his playing career, including the American League single-game record of 16 bases gained, which has never been broken. Baseball Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel spoke of Cobb’s prominence on the Hall of Fame web site.

“I never saw anyone like Ty Cobb. No one even close to him. He was the greatest all time ballplayer. That guy was superhuman, amazing.”

After finding the Ty Cobb cards, the family showed them to Rick Snyder, a baseball card dealer, who subsequently sent them to Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), the “world’s leading third-party authentication service for autographs and memorabilia.” According to the PSA website, the company president Joe Orlando and his team reviewed the Cobb cards carefully, grading their condition on a score from FR-Fair (1.5) to VG-Ex (4.5). Orlando explained that the cards are now collectively known as “The Lucky 7 Find,” as they are “remarkable seven examples of this great rarity were all found together, after more than 100 years had passed.” It takes a lot to get the PSA excited these days, said Orlando.

“It takes something truly special to make me feel like a kid again, but this was one of those moments. This is what the hobby is all about. Even though we live in the information age, the Internet age, undiscovered treasure is still buried out there. There is no question that these types of finds are few and far between. They are becoming more and more uncommon as time goes on, but until every attic is searched and every old box or bag examined, these finds represent the hope that all collectors dream about.”

While the family who found the cards aren’t aware if their relative collected cards, they do know that he enjoyed tobacco. And he almost certainly knew who Ty Cobb was. Perhaps that is why he kept the cards, albeit thrown in among his other belongings. Orlando said that while the Cobb cards showed the expected wear and tear of cards over 100 years old, “the combined eye appeal of the group is sensational.” It seems that storing the Cobb cards in a bag of rubbish was a great way to preserve them.

“Seven cards worth well into seven figures … all found at the bottom of great grandpa’s old paper bag.”

[Photo by David Sharp/AP Images]