GUEST: My father-in-law's old paymaster's desk came to my house, and I found them in a cubbyhole.
APPRAISER: And when was that?
GUEST: Probably in the 1970s. He was a semi-pro ballplayer with the old Saturday Afternoon League here in Cincinnati. He played on the Ivorydale team. He might have gone on, but his mother didn't want him to play ball on Sunday.
APPRAISER: Was your father-in-law from Detroit?
GUEST: No. Why he collected all the cards from Detroit I don't know, except of course in that era, Ty Cobb was the big one.
APPRAISER: Ty Cobb, right here, as we see two cards of Ty Cobb. Ty Cobb played for the Tigers for 22 years.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: Went to the World Series three times-- in 1907, 1908, 1909.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And came out a loser in each one of those World Series. And there is a small Detroit card company called Dietsche that you see right up here, and they produced a limited series of World Series postcards. They had cards for each year. You have a mix. The two Cobbs are from 1908. Now, again, poor Detroit-- they were swept by the Cubs in 1907. They get back in 1908, and they managed to take one game off the Cubs that year, losing again. Interestingly enough, the last year the Cubs ever won. In 1909, Detroit went up and played that year against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and they were led by Honus Wagner. Detroit lost in seven games, and Ty Cobb never went back ever again. But he had a great career, as did two other people here I want to point out to you. This is his teammate, Sam "Wahoo" Crawford. He was known as "Wahoo" because he came from Wahoo, Nebraska. And Sam ended up being a Hall of Fame outfielder. They did not like one another, but they still were one of the greatest double steal combinations in baseball history. And this is Hughie Jennings. He was their manager. Can you see how he's yelling?
GUEST: Yes, I can.
APPRAISER: Yeah, he was known as Ee-yah, because that's what he did from third base. He was a very enthusiastic manager. He ended up in the Hall of Fame in 1945. Because of the players that are not as well known-- the Summers, the Works, the Bushes-- the regular players here, I would insure them for about $100 apiece.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: The Jennings and the Crawford, because they're Hall of Famers, I would say they're probably between $200 and $300 apiece. And you look at the condition on here. Now, there are some scuff marks, but it's still Ty Cobb. These I would insure probably for about somewhere between $700 and $1,000 apiece.
GUEST: All right.
APPRAISER: For the entire group, I would say it's somewhere between $3,500 and $4,000.
GUEST: That's very nice to know.
