You never know what you will stumble upon at a garage sale. The chances of finding something really valuable is like one in a million.
In this video though, a man found not just a valuable piece but something that also has historical significance.
Funny because this precious thing was just laying on the concrete, mixed together with some sports equipment in someone’s driveway.
Anyone who loves sports will surely love this story.
This piece of memorabilia has played an important role in the history of America, especially regarding its current national issue.
Bruce Scapecchi is an expert when it comes to garage sales.
He spends his Saturday mornings driving around, looking for garage sales, and hoping that he’ll find something out of the ordinary. According to him, each summer, he attends upwards of five thousand garage sales.
That alone makes him a high-caliber garage sale veteran.
One day, he stopped by at a driveway garage sale, and not even in his wildest dreams had he thought that he’d see something this special.
He saw this precious piece of wooden sports equipment on the ground, laying under a ping pong table.
You wouldn’t really call it special or spectacular with its looks alone. It was just an old-looking thing mixed with some aluminum baseball bats, nothing really different at first sight.
But the hawk-eyed garage sale expert knew that something was hidden behind its old and unnoticeable look.
When he asked the garage sale owner how much, Sue McEntee said…a dollar!
Scapecchi went ahead and asked the owner if she knew what it was. Puzzled by the question, McEntee casually said that it was an old baseball bat.
Based on its looks, nothing’s special about it, and he could take it home for just one dollar cash.
Even Scapecchi was not 100% sure about the baseball bat. However, its unique grip made him think twice. He thought that it may have belonged to a specific and historic player.
Scapecchi pulled McEntee aside told the lady that she might have something really special.
To be sure about the baseball bat, Scapecchi told the owner that there’s one true way to find it out. An old trick that only veteran garage experts know.
Scapecchi told McEntee,
“I want you to go get a pencil.”
With piqued interest, she went in and grabbed a pencil.
Scapecchi rubbed the led pencil against a certain part of the baseball bat. The led made something appear and emphatically proved that it was no ordinary piece of wooden sports equipment.
The baseball bat’s age made the proof hard to locate, but with the help of merely a led pencil, an engraved name on it showed up.
When McEntee saw the name, it brought back some old memories about her uncle, a real-life major league baseball player named Joe Hatten.
The truth behind the “one dollar” bat in McEntee’s garage didn’t stop there.
The story went far beyond just her uncle.
The name engraved on the baseball bat was a player that her uncle Joe had played with for the Brooklyn Dodgers back in the year 1947.
He was an unforgettable player who’s written in the history books of America, not only in the field of sports but also in American civilization.
The name was clear, there’s no mistaking it.
The bat belonged to the one and only Jackie Robinson!
He was not just a regular athlete- he broke records and made history!
According to Wikipedia, Robinson was:
“an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. When the Dodgers signed Robinson, they heralded the end of racial segregation in professional baseball that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.”
He had a truly remarkable career in baseball:
“During his 10-year MLB career, Robinson won the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, was an All-Star for six consecutive seasons from 1949 through 1954, and won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949—the first black player so honored. Robinson played in six World Series and contributed to the Dodgers’ 1955 World Series championship.”
When you set records, then you have to be an absolute example of grace and resolve.
It’s music to the ears when you have all those achievements in your arsenal, but don’t get this wrong, the way wasn’t easy at all for Robinson.
He had to endure not only the strife from the opposing teams but also that of his own teammates.
Lately, Jackie Robinson has been on the minds of a lot of people.
Also, adding to it is the sudden passing of actor Chadwick Boseman. He is the black actor who played the role of the Marvel superhero, Black Panther.
Boseman also played a memorable role as Jackie Robinson in the fine movie “42.”
Opening the color lines in America’s favorite pastime was and is still the shining moment in the history of sports.
The issue about color is once again upon the scales, and it’s now up to this current generation whether it’s still worth the fight or not.
For garage sale owners, be careful with what you toss in there. And for garage sale goers, be keener with what you pick, you never know how valuable it might be- just like this precious wooden baseball bat which was supposed to be sold for a dollar.
Watch the video below to see the shocking discovery of Jackie Robinson’s baseball bat at a garage sale.
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