A vintage baseball collection built on memories
June 29, 2015
Michael Osacky
World-class Sports Memorabilia Appraiser
Sports memorabilia collector Mike Osacky holds a 1945 World Series baseball signed by the Chicago Cubs at his North Side home, the Cubs lost to the Detroit Tigers and have not been to a World Series since. Thursday June 18, 2015. Osacky is a serious collector.
(Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune)
At least once every week — "déjà vu all over again," as Yogi Berra might say — Michael Osacky gets a phone call in his Near North Side apartment that goes something like this:
"Hello," says Osacky.
"I've got it. I've got it," says the caller, almost always a male.
"What?" says Osacky.
"The card! The Honus Wagner! Am I a millionaire?"
The answer is always the same. Osacky says, gently, "No, I am sorry, but you aren't."
The Honus Wagner baseball card, more formally known as the T206 Honus Wagner, was produced more than a century ago by the American Tobacco Company.
Wagner was a shortstop who played his entire 1897-1917 career for the Pittsburgh Pirates and in 1936 became one of the original five members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Shortly after his baseball card was issued, he demanded that production stop because (Good Honus) he did not want kids to buy packs of cigarettes or (Bad Honus) he wanted more compensation from the ATC. A total of only 50 to 200 cards were ever distributed to the public.
And the last time one was up for sale in 2013 it fetched a bit more than $2.1 million in an online auction. Others had previously sold for more.
"At such prices collectors know where all the Wagner cards are," says Osacky. "And at such prices, it's logical to assume that there are some fakes out there."
Osacky, 34, collects baseball cards. And baseballs, programs, tickets stubs, autographs, score cards … you name it. He also collects memorabilia from other sports such as football, hockey, golf, horse racing … you name it. He has tens of thousands of items, a few in his apartment but most stored elsewhere.
"And baseball is 80 percent of what I have," he says.
Osacky got started on his passionate and profitable path when he was 11 years old and received a present from his grandfather. It was a shoe box filled with old baseball cards.
"I had been riding my bike to grocery stores and gas stations and getting all the new cards," he says. "But the cards in the box were very old and they got me in the hunt to find similar cards and to learn all about the history of the players."
Osacky, 34, collects baseball cards. And baseballs, programs, tickets stubs, autographs, score cards … you name it. He also collects memorabilia from other sports such as football, hockey, golf, horse racing … you name it. He has tens of thousands of items, a few in his apartment but most stored elsewhere.
"And baseball is 80 percent of what I have," he says.
Osacky got started on his passionate and profitable path when he was 11 years old and received a present from his grandfather. It was a shoe box filled with old baseball cards.
"I had been riding my bike to grocery stores and gas stations and getting all the new cards," he says. "But the cards in the box were very old and they got me in the hunt to find similar cards and to learn all about the history of the players."
A native of Buffalo Grove, he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he majored in finance and commodities. He used the skills learned there to start BaseballinTheAttic.com. Yes, it is a commercial enterprise, but Osacky's passion is more than materialistic.
"The history of the players and of the memorabilia is always fascinating," he says. "And I love the thrill of the hunt. Every day people call. I never know who or what they have. They might have stuff that they found in an attic or storage space and want to know how valuable it might be."
He got a call not long ago from a man in Florida who, cleaning out his garage, was plunked on the head by a baseball dislodged from the rafters.
"It was a ball signed by Babe Ruth," Osacky says. "It literally fell from the sky and they were very happy when I told them it could be worth $25,000 to $30,000."
This is the busy time of year for Osacky. He speaks at libraries and other institutions, visits festivals and antiques markets across the country. He buys and sells and appraises. He has served as an appraiser for athletes from such teams as the Chicago Bulls and New York Yankees.
"Artistically speaking, baseball cards of the early 1950s are my favorites," he says.
Do you remember?
There was a time, not so very long ago, when baseball cards were part of most young boys' lives. They were stuck between the spokes of your bikes, bulged in your shirt pocket. The game was, for such a very long time, the American game and Chicago's game. There were great things in baseball here because its characters and oddities made it — unlike basketball, football and hockey — life-size and human. You did not have to be tall or large to play; or hidden behind masks and padding. The players, most of them, at least, looked just like you and me.
Osacky takes from a pile a 1954 rookie card of a new Cub named Ernest Banks. On it Banks is smiling, ageless.
In the wake of Banks' death on Jan. 23, Osacky says: "There was a huge spike in prices for his cards and autographs. People were scrambling to buy up signed balls, paying (up to) $200. Now things have leveled off at $100."
It is weird, isn't it, to pin dollar amounts to a person's life and work and death.
But what price can you put on memories?
"A lot of people I deal with are investors but my advice to all is to buy something because you like it or (because of) what it represents," he says. "Some of the people who are serious collectors had moms who threw out their cards and they are now trying to put their collections back together. I think for a lot of people it helps bring back those feelings of childhood."
Osacky deals in nothing produced after the mid-1970s, for he is not an admirer of the modern methods of making cards and other memorabilia. "I feel bad for kids today," he says. "Contemporary cards are crumby, horrible. They are mass-produced and there are even some companies producing digital cards …. Digital!"
He has become a leading expert in this particular field of dreams. He appears on television shows and writes for such outlets as Parade magazine. His knowledge is deep but it is his enthusiasm that makes one recall an observation made by the great baseball announcer Red Barber when he said, "Baseball is dull only to dull minds."
Now, go check your attic.
"After Hours With Rick Kogan" airs 9-11 p.m. Sundays on WGN-AM 720.
Twitter @rickkogan