Cards Stolen In Houston

[bmcfadden1976]

Good afternoon. A friend introduced me to this site and suggested that I post here in case it happens to help. On Sunday, my storage unit at Uncle Bob's Storage off I-10 and Gessner Road in Houston, Texas was broken into and 6-8 binders full of 1950s-1994 cards were stolen. This appeared to be a random incident as they also stole my lawnmower and know one had reason to know the cards were in there.

The cards contained approximately 1000 each of Mike Schmidt and Will Clark cards (my two favorite players) and a bunch of other cards most from their eras. Fortunately, most of my more valuable cards are located in a safe deposit box, but this represented 35 years of collecting.

A reward will definitely be offered for any help. Yes, I know I am stupid for leaving them in a storage unit but they were placed there mid-moving to a new home and I had incorrectly assumed that the cards would be safe with their security gates/cameras and my dead bolt.

Barry

[cubsfan-budman]

Best of luck on this. Hopefully they'll turn up.

[Cozumeleno]

Sorry to hear that - my guess is you probably already did this, but if not, be sure to contact the local card shops, pawn shops, and antique dealers in your area and let them know to keep an eye out. Also, not sure if any shows are down your way anytime soon, but showing up there and giving the dealers a heads up might not be a terrible idea, either.

Good luck with everything.

[iowadoc77]

Man that sucks! I have also collected Mike Schmidt and have a ton of his cards. Would hate to lose them. Best of luck recovering them. If you can't, I can try to help replenish the Schmidts from one collector to another

[bmcfadden1976]

Thanks for all of the support!

[Sean1125]

Barry, I am in your part of the country in Arizona. I will keep an eye out.

[Steve D]

There are two shows that I know of later this month in Houston:

GT Sports Marketing has one May 15-16 at the George Brown Convention Center, and Tri-Star has one on May 29-31 at the NRG Center. It would probably be a good idea to be at the shows early the first day and let dealers know to be on the lookout.


Steve

[begsu1013]

Originally Posted by Steve D

There are two shows that I know of later this month in Houston:

GT Sports Marketing has one May 15-16 at the George Brown Convention Center, and Tri-Star has one on May 29-31 at the NRG Center. It would probably be a good idea to be at the shows early the first day and let dealers know to be on the lookout.


Steve

+1, and be sure to look at craigslist for your's and neighboring towns.

it could always be worse though, just remember you are above ground!

"always look on the bright side of life (whistle)"

best of luck!!!

[billyb]

Barry,
Make sure you report your loss to the local Police Department. They maintain all transactions at pawn shops. And if these items were ever found anywhere, they will show up on their national computer system. And as others suggested, notify local card shops. Keep an eye on that large flea market that is near to you also. There are a couple of card guys that set up in there as well.

[vintagetoppsguy]

A few things to consider...

A lot of storage companies are now mandating that you insure your contents. I had to go through this when I temporarily moved my stuff into a storage unit a couple years ago. If you have homeowner’s insurance, this will suffice their requirement but, if not, their goal is to sell you a policy. Check your storage contract and see if they charged you for insurance.

As mentioned, check the local card shops. I, too, am from Houston and can provide you the names of some shops if you don't already have that information.

Check the card shows. Also as mentioned, there are a couple of larger shows this month. A dealer friend of mine hosts a show once a month in Spring. His last show was this past Saturday, so that was before your burglary, but I can still ask him to keep his eyes open.

Last, did you check with the storage facility to see if they had any surveillance film?

Good luck on finding your cards.

[bmcfadden1976]

The storage facility has cameras, but the "manager" laughed when I asked about footage and said the cameras are so bad they don't show anything. They can't even pick up license plate numbers coming in or out. The police came as well and said they are at this facility (which I am paying $200 a month for mind you) all of the time and don't even bother with the cameras. I do have insurance through the facility (my homeowner's deductible is really high given the value of my house) and I am sure the carrier will be a nightmare to deal with since I didn't keep an itemized list of cards.

Thanks again to everyone for your support and suggestions, especially someone you don't know.

[gabrinus]

That's great they were able to find the humor in it....at your expense of course

[Leon]

Originally Posted by gabrinus

That's great they were able to find the humor in it....at your expense of course

+1

Good luck on finding the stolen cards.

[camlov2]

I would think that if they rent the units as having 24 hour video protection and then the employees/police state that their cameras are useless you might have a case to get your money back due to services not being rendered. Probably not worth the fight or costs but it is just a thought...

[tsalem]

Here is another idea...

I would go to the TriStar show end of the month. Get there early on Friday and get word to the dealers just in case these guys try and move them there.

Best of luck

Tom

[kmac32]

just out of curiosity, were the stolen items all cards of was there any autographed material/ baseballs, etc

[Leon]

Originally Posted by tsalem

Here is another idea...

I would go to the TriStar show end of the month. Get there early on Friday and get word to the dealers just in case these guys try and move them there.

Best of luck

Tom

I agree. I would certainly let folks at the Tri Star show know, if possible. Good luck in finding them.

[Deertick]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned, notify your local small auction houses too. Give or email a copy of the police report along with a good description. It seems to be gaining popularity as the way to unload stolen stuff. They tend to document consigned baseball cards as "2 binders of baseball cards". Makes it difficult to track down.