Man's prized baseball card collection stolen

Bart Dillow said the collection of 10,000 to 11,000 cards was worth at least $40,000 and included many cards handed down to him from his father and grandfather, such as an old Babe Ruth card.

"(It was) not his rookie year or anything like that, but some older ones that my granddaddy gave me," Dillow said.

He also had cards for baseball legends Mickey Mantle and Ty Cobb and rookie cards for Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan and New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. The Rodriguez card was autographed, he said.

Dillow, 37, said he was at work as manager of an Anderson Creek restaurant last Tuesday when someone kicked in the front door of his home and grabbed the card collection – it was packed in more than a dozen boxes in his bedroom – and about $1,400 in jewelry.

"They just walked in. They knew what they were doing," he said.

He said he's glad his wife and four children were out of the house at the time. She had to run an errand, he said.

He said he had planned to pass the collection along to his three sons.

"When they got older, my three boys, I was going to split it up in three ways and give it to them, especially with the economy the way it is," he said. "That was something I was able to pass down – what was (given) to me and what I could give to them."

Authorities said they have no suspects in the theft, but Dillow said it had to be someone who knew the collection was there.