Man goes back for baseball cards 60 years later, current home owners refuse to give them up.
"After 60 years, he went back to his childhood home for his hidden baseball card collection."
spoketherefore
My mom’s friend’s brother, Jimmy, 74, regretted not keeping his baseball cards from his youth. The thing is, they weren’t thrown away or sold. He knew where they were, or at least he thought he did.
Jimmy always loved baseball, and when he was young, he was an avid baseball card collector. Sitting in his bedroom above the garage, he’d often admire his cards. He even had a secret hiding spot for them. A place his nosy siblings would never find. In the back of his closet, there was a loose floorboard that, if manipulated just right, could be pulled up. This was where he kept his prized collection.
Years later, while he was away at college, his parents sold their home. Jimmy never retrieved his collection, though. He’d long since given up collecting. In fact, he’d forgotten about his cards altogether.
After college, he moved out of state. Decades passed without him thinking about his old collection. A few years ago, however, he read about how valuable certain old baseball cards had become. Cards he thought he might have had.
He doubted they could still be in his hiding place. Some research revealed his childhood home had been purchased and sold several times since he lived there. Certainly, one of these families had discovered them, he thought.
Recently, Jimmy was back in his hometown, visiting a friend. While catching up, he mentioned wondering about his hidden card collection. It just so happened that Jimmy’s friend was familiar with the family that currently owned the home. He encouraged Jimmy to pay them a visit and explain the situation, so that’s what he did.
Jimmy knocked on the door of his childhood home, and the couple that greeted him were friendly and intrigued by his story. Reassured that they had a mutual acquaintance, they invited Jimmy in to look for his cards. They took Jimmy to his old room and watched as he went into the closet, manipulated the floorboard, and pulled it up.
The cards were still there! He pulled out the box of cards, and the three of them sat in his old room, looking through them. When they had finished, the couple told Jimmy that legally, the cards belonged to them as owners of the home.
Jimmy argued that they wouldn’t have found the cards but for him. He asked them to compromise, but the homeowners would not budge and asked him to leave. Frustrated, Jimmy returned home. He solved the mystery but lost his cards, again.
My mom relayed this story to me recently. Her friend had called her to ask about the couple that kept her brother’s cards. My mom didn’t know much about the couple but was friends with someone who did. Apparently, the couple had been struggling financially. Unfortunately, we never found out how valuable the cards were.
If you were Jimmy, how would you have approached the situation? Even if you were struggling financially, would you have kept all of the cards?
Here were the top rated comments from readers:
Big_Hovercraft_6773
I would have given him the cards. Those people were greedy a**holes.
deeeeez_nutzzz
Yeah for real. I would have stiff armed the couple and made it out the front door yelling deez muh cards biatches.
sadieadlerwannabe
What a pair of scumbags.
1290_money
Lol. There's no way you would have given him the cards. You see them as rich people so you think they should have given it but everybody needs more money.
Big_Hovercraft_6773
They were his from when he was a child. At the very least, I would have made some sort of deal with the guy. Most times, being a decent human is far more important than screwing people over for money.
extraaverageguy
No Jimmy is a dope. He should have told the couple that there might be something of great value in the house and that he would retrieve it only if the agreeded to split the value. Then if they agreed get a legal document that stated such and all sign it. That's what I would have done. If they didn't agree they would not know what was the item of value or where to look.
8512764EA
I would never have done that to someone. They should have let him keep the cards.
GaijinGrandma
Legally they might have been the homeowners but morally they were Jimmy’s.