Family Finds Ty Cobb Cards Worth Millions in Crumpled Bag at Great-Grandfather's House

NEWPORT BEACH, CA A family's life changed overnight when they found a treasure trove of baseball history in a crumpled-up old paper bag at their great-grandfather's rundown house after he passed away recently.

There in the crumpled up old bag were seven Ty Cobb baseball cards from the early 1900s. The unprecedented find is worth millions, a Newport Beach expert announced today. Joe Orlando, president of the Professional Sports Authenticator of Newport Beach, authenticated a unexpected find after experts initially believed it had to be a hoax.

The estimated value is "well into the seven figures," according to Orlando.

The family lives somewhere in the South -- Orlando did not want to be more specific -- and wishes to remain anonymous. They contacted Rick Snyder of MINT State Inc. in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, when they made the find.

This type of find, the mythical multimillion dollar discarded treasure of American folklore, seemed too good to be true, said Snyder.

"My initial reaction was absolute skepticism," Snyder said. "I doubted they were authentic because finding seven of these cards at one place at one time seemed almost impossible."

When Snyder got around to viewing them personally he was sold, he said.

"I told the family, 'I'm going to help change your life,"' Snyder said. "This is a historic find. It is something every single individual whoever unearthed anything in their family's basement or garage has dreamed about."

Orlando also had trouble believing it was real until the cards of the baseball legend were sent to his office.

"Our senior staff examined the cards," Orlando said. "Due to the magnitude of the find I even had an outside expert come to our offices to examine the cards as well. They all shared the same assessment. No matter how improbable, each of the seven cards was undoubtedly authentic."

Orlando added, "This is one of the greatest discoveries in the history of our hobby, involving one of the greatest rarities in baseball cards from arguably the most popular baseball card set ever produced."

According to Orlando, all seven cards have corner wear and creasing. However, the combined eye appeal is sensational on the face of the cards, added Orlando. Two cards are ranked as "number one and number two of the finest known of this variety," according to a statement released by Professional Sports Authenticator.

Before this find, there were about 15 of the rare Ty Cobb cards known to still exist, Orlando said.

"It is simply miraculous," Orlando said.

City News Service contributed to this report. Photo Credit: Professional Sports Authenticator