EVANSVILLE, IN – A young baseball card collector in Evansville struck gold earlier this week when he and his grandfather pulled a one-of-a-kind signed Babe Ruth baseball card during a routine card-opening session.
Twelve-year-old Keegan and his grandfather, Bob Kenning, were spending President’s Day together when they decided to stop by The Hobby Den, a popular local sports card shop.
“It was President’s Day, we had nothing better to do,” Bob explained. “Keegan called me up and said, ‘Hey Pawpaw, why don’t we go to Hobby Den?’”
Bob, who grew up in a different era of collecting, remembers a time when baseball cards were more about fun than value.
“A lot of my cards wound up in my bicycle spokes to make my bike sound better,” he said.
Keegan, on the other hand, is a dedicated collector with an impressive stockpile of cards.
“I would say I have close to ten thousand cards,” he said.
Neither of them expected to uncover what would become the biggest pull of their lives—a one-of-one signed Babe Ruth baseball card, a near-impossible find in the sports memorabilia world.
David Nguyen, owner of The Hobby Den, was just as shocked as they were.
“Babe Ruth signatures just aren’t common in general,” Nguyen said. “Just seeing something like that, that’s what the hobby is all about.”
The moment instantly became a treasured memory for the grandfather-grandson duo, solidifying their shared love for collecting.
“When we can share this hobby together and have a grandfather-grandson bonding time, that’s priceless right there,” Bob said.
While the card is undoubtedly valuable, Keegan has no intention of selling it.
“I think I’m going to hold on to it, definitely,” he said. “It’s just a once-in-a-lifetime pull, and I probably will never get anything like it again.”
The rare card now takes its place as the crown jewel of Keegan’s collection, marking an unforgettable moment in both his and his grandfather’s lives.