A Colorado family got a nice little influx of cash when they discovered that a pair of old baseballs sitting in a tucked-away lockbox were signed by Yankees legend Babe Ruth and President Franklin. D. Roosevelt.
The family — only identified as one that lives in the greater Denver area in this Forbes story — found seven baseballs in their grandfather’s forgotten collection and decided to see if they were real.
They contacted Mile High Card Co. and had the baseballs inspected by certification companies PSA/DNA and JSA. They’re real, and they’re spectacular, the certification companies told the family.
Once the Ruth and Roosevelt baseballs were proven to be legit, Mile High Card Co. auctioned them off. The Ruth one sold for $33,793, and the President Roosevelt ball for $37,258.
“They brought an insane Babe Ruth,” Mile High Card Co. President Brian Drent told Forbes. “And an FDR [Franklin Delano Roosevelt] signed to Clark Griffith who was synonymous with Washington, D.C. The grandfather was some muckamuck.”
Griffith, for those wondering, was the longtime Washington Senators manager and Hall of Fame outfielder and pitcher.
And, if you’re wondering what a muckamuck is like me, the internet says it’s “an important, influential, or high-ranking person.”
The more you know.
