Visalia man buys $2 Babe Ruth baseball card that could be worth millions

FRESNO, Calif. -- Babe Ruth remains an iconic, larger than life baseball star.

Dale Ball of Visalia, California, believes a recently purchased baseball card might be a rare one made by the Shotwell Company in 1921.

Ball went to Beverly Hills to have the card checked out by an antique expert.

"It's believed it's real," he said.

But the card he bought to add to his son Dennis's collection must be authenticated and graded by the Beckett Company.

Ball bought it from a collectibles store in Sparks, Nevada.

The owner told him, "I can't find it anywhere on the internet. I think it's fake."

But Ball has been collecting cards since he was a kid.

"Something's not right here," he said. "This card is not a remake."

KFSN showed a photo of the Babe Ruth card to Chris Gooboian at Bases Loaded Collectibles in northwest Fresno.

Gooboian said if the card turns out to be the real deal, Ball should get a nice payoff.

"Oh my gosh, it would be an amazing card," Gooboian said. "Looking at the condition of this card it looks really nice. A card from this era of Babe Ruth, if you get it authenticated, gosh, $20-30,000 is not out of the question."

Ball figured that may be the starting point for a similar card, the E-21, but he believes this is the Shotwell W-575-1 Babe Ruth card.

"This is the one everybody's looking for," he said.

If it's authenticated, it could change his life.

"God blessed me, and I intend to bless the guy that I got it from," Ball said. "I will go back to the store when it's all over to give him a proper payment."

Until then, Ball tells everyone who wants to buy the card the same thing.

"I told him my family's welfare depends on it. Bidding starts at $2 million," he said.