Big League Bust : 4 Boys Arrested in $30,000 Theft of Baseball Cards

Greg Sullivan warily eyed the 1954 Ted Williams baseball card the two teen-agers were offering to sell for less than half its $250 value.

Sullivan, the owner of Sully’s Sports Center in Moorpark, had lost more than $8,000 in rare cards during a late-night burglary in September, and instinctively felt that something was unusual about the offer.

“It just didn’t make sense that a teen-aged kid would have 1950s baseball cards,” Sullivan said Thursday. “Ever since my burglary, I’ve been real apprehensive about that stuff.”

Sullivan’s suspicions led Ventura County sheriff’s deputies Thursday to four 17-year-old Moorpark boys allegedly involved in a scheme to sell more than $30,000 worth of rare baseball cards taken from a collector’s home last month.

By identifying the youths from Moorpark High School yearbook photos, Sullivan gave detectives just enough time to keep the four from selling the cards, Detective David Lea said.

“He was instrumental in our investigation,” Lea said.

Two of the four youths are being held at Ventura County Juvenile Hall for the Nov. 26 theft of 13,000 to 17,000 expensive cards, Lea said. The other two juveniles were arrested for possession of stolen property and later released, he said.

Included in the haul were gems such as Hank Aaron, Jackie Robinson and Ernie Banks rookie cards, all of which fetch prices of more than $750. Other expensive cards and complete Major League sets from the early to mid-1950s were also taken, Lea said.

Both old and newer baseball cards have rapidly increased in value in recent years. The cards, which cannot be marked by owners if they are to remain in mint condition, have become lucrative items for thieves. The cards are often stolen by thieves who break into a card shop, clean out several display cases and vanish before police arrive.

In this case the alleged thieves tried to sell the cards in Los Angeles County, where several shops expressed interest in either buying the entire collection or running an auction for them.

But several dealers balked after suspecting that the cards were stolen, Lea said.

“It looks like there are some very honest baseball card dealers out there,” he said.

The teen-agers were only able to sell two cards, the 1954 Ted Williams card and a 1956 Ernie Banks card, in Ventura County, Lea said.

Tony Geraets, manager of Baseball Cards Etc. in Simi Valley, said he unknowingly bought the Banks card for $350 Monday, and immediately put it on display for $750.

Although detectives had circulated a list of the stolen cards, Geraets said he assumed that the teen-ager was telling the truth when he said the card had belonged to his grandfather, one of many stories that they made up.

“I saw the list two weeks beforehand, but it just didn’t occur to me that they would break up the set and sell the cards individually,” Geraets said.

“I ask every person when they come in why they are selling the cards, and I try to see if they are lying or not. But really, how can you identify a baseball card?”