An extremely rare Babe Ruth rookie card is set for inclusion in an auction Friday that could end up fetching half a million dollars or more for a Massachusetts man, all because of a chance encounter.
Jeff Gross, an avid collector of baseball memorabilia from Newburyport, was helping out with a family garage sale in Danvers when a man stopped by on his bike to see what was for sale. He and Gross struck up a conversation, and the man brought up the fact that his father had left him a box of old cards. Gross, intrigued, urged the man to inventory the cards and offered his assistance.