Homer Glen resident has a happy birthday
MAN HITS GRAND SLAM WITH BASEBALL CARD
HOMER GLEN -- Like most boys growing up, Bill Watters dreamed of hitting a grand slam to win the seventh game of the World Series.
And like most boys, he collected baseball cards, those shiny, mass-produced cardboard cutouts with the faces and stats of popular and not-so-popular major league players.
SUN-TIMES NEWS GROUP
The 38-year-old Homer Glen man figures he has tens of thousands of those cards stashed away in shoeboxes throughout his home.
Most were bought for a quarter when the cards came seven to a pack and included a stale piece of gum.
"That's one card that will never see the inside of a shoebox," he said.
On April 2, which happened to be Watters' 38th birthday, he and his fiancee, Lisa Ortiz, drove to RBI Sports Cards in Burbank.
Ortiz told Watters to pick out anything in the store he wanted.
After careful deliberation, he selected a $300 pack of baseball cards that came in a fancy black box. The cards had been on the market for only a couple of weeks.
Watters opened the pack and, after flipping past Tim Lincecum, Stephen Drew and Chase Utley, his jaw dropped.
The fourth card was Babe Ruth. The Bambino. The Sultan of Swat. Arguably the best player ever to play the game.
The only one of its kind, it contained an authentic autograph of Ruth as well as a patch from a 1927 jersey he wore while playing for the New York Yankees.
"My jaw dropped," Watters said. "I couldn't believe what I was looking at.
"After saying 'Oh my God' a few times, I think I finally realized what I had in my hand," he said. "I have Babe Ruth cards that are the mass-produced kind, but nothing like this. I'm still sort of in shock."
He said he hasn't decided what he'll do with the card, but selling it is a good bet.
Watters already rejected an offer of $5,000, saying the card will fetch at least three times that on eBay.
Tony Carrasquillo, owner of RBI Sports Cards, said the card is extremely unique.
"I never thought I'd ever see a card like this," he said. "It's like winning the lottery."
Watters acknowledged his hobby is an expensive one, but he says he has something to show for his efforts.
"I realize what I do (with buying the cards ) is a gamble, he said. "Sometimes I get cards that are of value, and other times I don't. But I always get something for my money," he said.
"Some people go to the gambling boats and come away empty-handed."
Watters and Ortiz are avid Chicago sports fans who love anything to do with the White Sox. They're getting married in June.
"The wedding's already paid for," Watters said. "So I'm not in that big of a hurry to sell the card."