- One, two, three, boom!
- [Frank] There's an amazing amount of stuff here.
- [Mike] Oh wow.
- [Frank] 70 to 80% of sports stuff is fake.
- Why don't you show them that baseball you got?
- [Frank] You can read Babe Ruth, you got my attention.
- The prospect of this deal
on the back end could be huge.
(laughter)
All of a sudden, I see the item I'd been looking for.
Something that I have interest in,
the Stanley Cup hockey machine.
- [Man] Here, look at this.
- [Mike] Where'd you find that at?
- It's a Comiskey Park chair right there.
- I got my hot dog, I got my beer.
I gotta own it, and I know I'm not the only guy
that feels that way.
- [Man] This is signed by Shaq to Dwyane.
- I'm not a huge basketball fan,
but I know who Dwyane Wade is.
This stuff is the real deal.
(rock music)
(upbeat music)
All right, we're getting close dude.
Pay attention, you haven't been out here for awhile.
- I'm fine.
- Here's where we're going right here.
All right, see if you can find a flyer.
All right.
You got the flyer?
- Got it.
- Come on Dave.
Hey man, come on.
(laughs)
As much as we tease Dave,
I love picking with him,
because he's like riding around with an encyclopedia.
The guy has taught me so much.
See when we pull up, Frankie's already at the glove box.
You know what I mean?
I'm sorry to keep comparing you to Frank.
We've all known each other for like, what?
30 years or 40 years or something?
Hey, hey.
Hey, you Jerry?
- Yes. - Hey, I'm Mike.
- Hey Mike. - This is Dave.
You talked to Dani on the phone?
- My wife did.
- Here, hit him with a flyer there.
Man, it's cold up here.
Have you guys had snow yet?
- [Jerry] Not yet.
It's getting there, it's getting there.
- [Mike] Hey. - [Julie] Hey, how are you?
- Julie, hey, I'm Mike.
- Nice to meet you. - This is my buddy, Dave.
- Nice to meet you, Julie. - Nice to meet you.
- Oh man, it looks like you guys
are busy doing something here.
- [Jerry] Trying to get it cleaned out.
- So how long have you guys been digging into this place?
- Probably going on about seven or eight months.
My dad passed away about a year ago in December,
and just starting to go through everything,
organize it, figure out what we have.
My dad never wanted to be a boring person.
He was a smart guy.
He was always trying to learn something new
and how things worked.
- Collectors like Glen are so important to the hobby
because they're bringing knowledge.
I mean, they're the ones who help us understand
the inner workings of what we all truly love.
- So I'm gonna take you to my dad's workshop over here.
This is where we spent a lot of time growing up,
making go-karts.
We used to go racing on the weekends in Fremont, Ohio.
- So how far back did your dad race go-karts?
- Probably sixties and seventies,
and he had a gold jacket he thought he was cool.
- No kidding? - Oh yeah.
- Gold leather? - Yeah.
- Wow, that's hot. - Sorry.
There we go.
All right, so let's look. - [Mike] Oh, wow.
Now, was this is yours?
Were you riding in this?
- No.
This wasn't the favorite.
The favorites are over there.
- Favorites are over there? - Yeah.
- [Mike] Oh man.
- [Julie] Oh wow, you took the long way around.
- I know, I totally did.
(laughing)
- There you go.
- Just pull this off.
My God.
- [Julie] These were my dad's.
- [Mike] Whoa.
- [Jerry] This is a Fox kart. - [Mike] Wow.
- [Jerry] The bottom is a Rupp kart.
- [Mike] God, look at these things.
- [Jerry] These will burn rubber.
- [Julie] Oh yeah, for sure.
- The word go-kart is thrown around pretty loosely.
But when you look at something like this,
you see the technology, the design,
the speed that it's capable of,
and you realize this is very serious stuff.
These can do like 80 mile an hour, won't they?
- Oh yeah.
- What we're seeing today is the early technology
of a very serious sport.
These cars are from the gladiator time period
of go-kart racing.
These things gotta sound so mean, man.
- [Julie] Yeah, when they hit the road, they were fast.
My dad always souped them up so they could go faster.
- I love the time period that the from, sixties, seventies.
- [Julie] We would race these in Fremont, Ohio.
- [Mike] Yeah, I see he likes stickers, man.
Look at this thing. - Oh yeah.
- You should've seen him in his gold leather sparkly jacket
zipping around the track.
Got up very early, first of all,
because you had to get ready to go the race.
And just gearing up that energy,
like, okay, it's race time.
And the sound of those engines was so loud.
I just remember them hitting tires and stuff.
Just like in a real race track,
and them crashing into each other on the track
and running over each other's tires
and kicking each other off into the straw off the side.
- There's nothing around them, nothing!
Nothing. - They're crazy.
- So have you guys done any research on these?
Have you dug into that at all?
- [Julie] Yeah.
- So this one on top, in this condition,
it can go anywhere between five and $800.
- (Mike) Okay.
The bottom is a Rupp Mean Machine Enduro Kart,
- (Mike) Okay.
Which is why it's got the two tanks on the sides
because you're going for distance and endurance.
We've seen these in this condition go
between 1500 and 3000. But again--
- [Julie] In this condition--
- [Jerry] In this condition, it's a little beat up.
- [Mike] Yeah, I mean the seats of these--
- [Julie] Around 500.
- [Mike] Some guys are saying 500 probably
'cause they're looking at it for parts.
- [Julie] Exactly.
- So it's either you're the guy that buys them
and you part them out or you're the guy that buys them
and you go the distance with them.
It sounds like if you've done the research on them,
then you've thought about selling them.
- Mm huh, my dad passed at 92 about a year ago,
and he never gave up,
and he would never want these given up on.
He would want them refurbished and loved
and out on that track again,
you know, just like he used to back in the day.
- So he was always talking about
getting them running. - Always.
I mean, that was his passion.
I grew up with this stuff on the track, hurting my ears.
You know, "Dad, it's so loud."
He goes, "Get over it."
(laughter)
- These cars don't run.
They haven't been raced in years,
but Glen never gave up on the idea that they would again.
So if you guys have done the research,
what were you thinking would be the number
that would send them down the road
maybe to get them running?
- What do you think, honey?
- I would say it's a steal for 1500.
I think that's with the kart and two cars.
- [Julie] Right.
- So basically, this top one is very easy to seat.
The one below, not so much. - [Julie] Right.
- If they're already on a kart.
I mean, if we move like four or five,
I don't know, maybe 100, 200 things,
we could probably pull them out and just look at them
because it sounds like we're not too far apart already,
and we've got you here.
(laughter)
- Oh, so now--
- Get going! - Now I see how it is.
I see how it is.
You're fat and for it, Jerry.
No, look around.
- All right, Dave, you gotta start stacking
some of this stuff further back
if we're gonna roll this thing out, dude.
You know what I mean?
Dave, where you at?
Come on, baby, come on.
Come on, Jerry.
Put your back into it, man.
If we're gonna get serious about the karts,
we gotta get them outside so we can look them over
and see exactly what we're getting into.
We gotta go this way.
(grunting)
Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going,
keep going, keep going.
All right, fellas. - Woo!
- [Julie] Well, there she is. You had to work for that.
- Woo.
- [Mike] So, okay, now that we have them out,
where would you feel comfortable?
I mean, I can kind of tell you where I'd feel comfortable.
- [Jerry] You tell me.
- That one's five to eight and this one was 1500,
I'm gonna say on the high side
just because it's so rough,
- [Julie] Mm huh.
And I'm sure you took into consideration
it's got one engine, it's got obviously
another mounting area for another.
- That's on it, 'cause it was 1500 on the low end.
- Yeah.
- 'Cause it's obviously it's not 3000
probably because we're missing an engine, but.
- [Mike] I don't know, what do you think, Dave?
- I think it looks rougher outside.
See, like Mike, did you notice this tire?
The tires will probably have to be replaced.
- [Mike] Oh, absolutely. - [Julie] For sure, yeah.
And there's a rack of them in there.
You know?
- [Jerry] What was your number?
- [Julie] Mm huh.
- For the two,
I'm thinking like, 1300 bucks.
- 13, ah...
- [Mike] I mean, that's me.
- [Jerry] This one's 15 on the low end.
- [Mike] I know, but it's just so rough, man.
- Yeah, but they also said 500, right?
- [Jerry] True.
So, say 16.
- [Mike] I'll tell you what, I'd do 15
if we find some different tires.
- 15?
- I can do that. - Okay.
She's the boss, I shake.
Good deal. - All right,
I'll shake both your hands.
Thank you, I appreciate ya.
All right, so now that I own it, let's get it out of here.
I wanna get it out here.
I wanna see this thing.
Glen's little girl was with him through all of it,
side by side, building the karts,
racing the karts, and enjoying that chapter of his life.
Oh yeah. - [Julie] I'm like,
you can't let it fall.
- So it's fitting that she's the one to cut the deal
and pass the torch to the guys
that are going to get them running again.
Dave, let's make a mental note
of what that rear wheel looks like.
Dave, look at these wheels.
- [Dave] Did you find it?
11 by 6.5.
- Here.
- Yeah, now we're talking. - [Mike] Here.
- See, those are new.
- Yeah, yep.
- [Mike] So we got wheels. - [Julie] Yep.
- Aye!
I think I found your dad's coat.
- [Julie] You found my dad's coat?
I gotta see it.
Oh my gosh.
- Is that it. - This is dad's coat.
- Oh my God, he was so small.
Look at that thing.
- [Julie] Holy smokes, that was his coat.
- Look at that burn hole in it, man. He was going for it.
- [Julie] He was in his prime in that coat, boy.
- [Mike] Oh my gosh.
- I was like, seriously, the gold jacket?
I thought that was long gone
because we had replaced the roof on that
and had lost many, many things in that garage
a few years back, and I was like, it's here?
Isn't that cool? - Yeah.
Love that, absolutely.
All right, let's put this over here.
- So that was special because that was the jacket.
You could see what kind of personality he had.
- All right, here we go.
- Mixed emotions, I would say.
Happy and sad at the same time. - [Mike] Thank you so much.
Thank you for honoring my dad.
- Jerry. - You bet.
- Going into the garage the next time
I think is gonna be a little hard, and, but--
- But they're gonna go,
they're gonna get used. - But they're going
to a great home, so that's why it's like happy tears,
you know what I mean?
And I think dad will be smiling.
- [Jerry] Yes.
(horn honks)
- See you guys! - See ya!
Can't wait to see those karts running.
- Woo.
(engine roaring)
Dang!
(rock music)
(phone rings)
- [Mike] Dani D, what's up? - [Frank] What's up, girl?
- Hey guys, how's Oklahoma treating you?
- It's dealing good, man.
What you got?
- All right, so I'm sending you to two brothers
who are both collectors, and I think
you're gonna love them. - Okay.
- Their dad was a huge collector too.
Sadly, he passed away a few years ago,
so now the boys have their whole entire collection
housed in this massive Dodge Chrysler DeSoto Dealership.
- What kind of stuff did they collect?
- Well, now Jacob's the major collector,
and his stuff runs the gamut.
He and his brother Bobby are pretty young guys.
I mean, Jacob's only 31.
He used to actually have an antique shop.
- So he's in his thirties and he had an antique shop?
- [Dani] Yes.
- That's pretty cool. - That is cool.
- The building is packed full,
so he's really hoping to unload some stuff.
- Hey, I always like when young guys
are in the industry, man.
Those guys are the future.
Remember when you and I were the youngest guys
at the flea market? - At the motorcycle meet?
Yeah. - Yeah.
- Everybody had the gray beards,
and we were like out of high school.
- Those were good days, man.
- Darn right. - Those were some good days.
- You guys are grandfathers of rust now.
- Yeah, that makes you the grandma.
- You've never colored your hair, right?
- [Dani] Frankie, watch it.
Keep your sass to a minimum.
- [Frank] Bye, thank you.
- Hello? - Hello!
- Hey, hey. - Hey.
Look like you got your hands full.
- Yeah, you Mike and Frank?
- Yeah, yeah, you talked to Danielle on the phone?
- Yeah, my name's Frank.
- Nice to meet you. - How you doing, man?
Nice to meet you.
Frank and I are going for it here.
There's a lot of stuff to dig through,
and we're going through it.
Is that original paint?
- [Jacob] No it's not, it was originally orange.
- [Frank] This was one of you guys or dads?
- [Jacob] It's one of mine.
- [Frank] So the apple didn't fall
far from the tree there, did it?
You're a car guy too.
- [Jacob] Yeah, I've got several.
- [Mike] Nice, where'd you find this?
- I found it right here in town.
I've been trying to buy this car
since I was about five years old.
- What? - Yeah.
Five years old?
- I remember seeing it out the window of my parents' car and
- How long ago did you finally catch it?
- About four months ago. - [Frank] Oh brand new, huh.
- [Mike] Oh, this a new acquisition here?
- Yeah.
- [Mike] Wow.
- So you're definitely still in love with it?
- Yeah, this one I am.
- I saw cool cars when I was young too,
but I didn't pursue them my whole life.
He bird dogged it all that time.
He chased that down,
and that's what you need to be a good picker.
- Why don't you show him that baseball you got?
- Okay, yeah. - What kind of baseball?
- Well, I wanna surprise you guys and let you see.
- Lead the way. - [Mike] Surprise.
So what's special about the ball?
- [Bobby] He'll just have to show you.
- [Frank] All right. - [Mike] All right.
- All right, it's in a case.
So right away--
- We know it's expensive, Frank.
It's in a case. - It's in a case.
- Yeah, it's signed by some of the old Yankees.
- Babe Ruth?
Wow.
- Babe Ruth. - Babe Ruth.
- I might not be the biggest sports fan,
but everybody has heard of Babe Ruth.
It's dated '28 on the ball.
- [Narrator] Despite being serious underdogs,
the Yanks ham at the Cogs to sweep the '28th World Series
in four games.
The Babes smashed three home runs.
While Lou Gehrig drove in nine RBIs,
more than the entire Cago team combines.
And that's how it was.
- [Frank] It says 1928 on it.
You can read Babe Ruth.
You got my attention.
How'd you come about this?
- I got it in a trade on some stuff.
Buddy of mine, a guy walked in one day,
and he was buying some stuff from me.
It was some pretty expensive stuff,
and he wanted to do partial trade with the baseball.
I thought it was kind of a neat piece of history to own.
- [Mike] One of the biggest benefits
of owning an antique shop
is that people bring stuff into you to sell.
It's amazing to think that this ball came into this store
in this little tiny town.
- Have you ever had it authenticated?
Because you know a lot of sports stuff these days,
it's all fake.
- Yeah.
- The problem with sports memorabilia
is 70 to 80% of it is fake.
- When I first saw the ball,
I was skeptical because you don't see stuff like that.
The point changed when I seen the way
that all these signatures have worn off,
and I seen the date on it and just the way it was done,
it didn't look like it could be any way a fake.
- Well, you thought enough of it to take a chance on it.
You didn't get it looked at?
- No, just the look of it seemed right.
- This looks real to me.
It's too bad you can't read
a lot of these other signatures on it.
- Yeah.
The guy that I bought it from had it in a Ziploc baggie.
And that really wasn't a good way to keep the ball.
- Well, tell me something, is this something you would sell?
- Yeah, I would sell it.
- 'Cause I got a guy named Mike.
I mean, he's Mr. Sports.
He's really heavy duty into collectibles.
I mean, if I could take a few pictures of this
- Yeah.
And send it to him.
- Okay.
- I mean, do you have an ideal what it's worth?
- I really don't.
I had researched different balls
with Babe Ruth's name on them,
and some of them, they want to 60, 70, $80,000.
- So you're gonna have to take it out of the case, Frankie.
- I'm gonna let him take it out of the case.
- [Jacob] Touch it on the deals.
- Touch it on the what? - The threads.
- Oh, threads, okay.
- Yeah, 'cause they said if you touch it on the--
- Oh, I got you, with the oil on my hands and stuff?
- Yeah, it'll-- - There you go,
take a good shot right there.
That's Babe Ruth.
- [Mike] Let me get the type of ball.
Is there any other signatures that stand out on it?
- Get that.
- Now let me get that.
It's too bad they're so faded.
- [Frank] Well, 1928.
- I got it on my phone, I'll send them.
- [Frank] He'll be able to tell me if it's real or not.
- Whoa.
Look at that, that's like a 32
Roadster there, man. Look at that.
Things are changing.
The internet changed everything.
Television shows changed everything.
The industry has changed.
How about a hundred a piece?
- I'd do it.
- All right, cool.
I love them.
If you look at what's going on on the auction circuit
versus retail, flea market, estate sale.
- [Frank] Hey Jacob.
- I'd do 75 on that.
- That's perfect, appreciate it.
- [Mike] Younger people are starting to get involved.
Oh, look at this dude.
50 bucks. - [Man] Yeah, I'll do that.
- 50 bucks, cool. - Sounds good.
- Jacob is way ahead of a lot of those guys.
(phone rings) Hold on a second,
that's probably--
- Is that Mike?
- We sent pictures of the baseball we found
signed by Babe Ruth to an expert.
Mike, it's Frank.
How you doing, my friend?
- [Mike Richards] Hey, how you doing?
- I'm doing great, did you get those pictures?
- [Mike Richards] Yeah, sure did.
- He deals with nothing but sports memorabilia.
He's been doing it for decades.
His dad was into it.
This guy knows everything,
and he'll be able to tell me if it's real or not.
Is the Babe Ruth signature real?
- [Mike Richards] It looks,
it looks really good. - [Frank] Ok.
It looks like every one that I have seen.
Anything that I had compared it to,
I looked as close as I can looking for stops.
If you stop writing like you're thinking about it,
I don't see any of that in looking at the pictures.
As best as I can tell,
it looks really solid on the Babe signature.
- [Frank] K.
- [Mike Richards] Some of the other signatures,
the ball is so old and deteriorated.
Where ink has come up, I just can't say on all of them.
- Can you read any of them at all?
- [Mike Richards] Looked like there was
a Tony Lazzeri on there.
There was a Bob Meusel on there and Earle Combs.
These are guys that were huge names
around the '27, '28 Yankees.
I would think there would be a Lou Gehrig on there,
but I could not see it from the pictures.
It's just almost impossible without touching it
to say exactly what it is.
- [Frank] Okay.
- [Mike Richards] To me, the fact that it's on
a National League ball
lends a little more credibility to it.
I would say if somebody was gonna fake all that
to try to pass that as a fake,
everybody knows the Yankees are an American league team.
So this just looks like this was the ball the person had
or it was a spring training game
or it was the '28 World Series,
which if one played in the National League Park,
they would've used a National League ball.
So it gives it a little more credibility
that it is not an obvious fake.
Get it authenticated.
Whatever you do, spend the money and get it authenticated.
- What does something like that cost?
- [Mike Richards] Looking at the whole ball
I think would be $300.
- Okay, well, here's my big question for you.
In the condition the ball's in, what's it worth?
- [Mike Richards] I've seen people jack it up
to ridiculous amounts.
You would find some that people just have five figures
and stepped off.
It's more common than that.
Babe was the most famous human on earth at the time.
He did sign a lot of autographs,
but it also is still
one of the most desirable autographs on earth.
I would say probably in the $2,000 range
just for the Ruth signature.
If you got the ball authenticated and
it came back clean, with the other big names,
you're looking at 3000 plus dollars, possibly higher.
- That's if Lou Gehrig's on it.
- [Mike Richards] With Lou Gehrig on it,
it would be significantly higher.
Gehrig died young, didn't sign a jillion autographs.
They're out there, but it's just as desirable as the Ruth's.
So I mean, it is the other signature that
you want on there. With Lou Gehrig on it,
it would probably be in the five to $7,000 range.
- [Frank] Okay.
- All right, buddy, we appreciate you.
Thank you so much for always being there for us.
- [Frank] Thanks, Mike. - We'll let you know
how it pans out.
- Appreciate it. - Bye-bye.
- Can we take another look at it?
- Yeah, you can look.
- All right, let's take another look at it.
We know this ball is from 1928,
and we believe is signed by the New York Yankees.
The Babe Ruth, that's there.
He's looked a lot of these balls.
As far as I'm concerned, this is real.
- Yeah.
- Can I hold it?
I just wanna hold it 'cause Babe Ruth held it.
It's exciting to touch a ball that Babe Ruth signed.
I mean, think about it.
He actually had this in his hands.
I could see why you were excited about getting it.
- Oh yeah.
I had never seen one of these in person, so--
- Yeah, not too many people have.
Yeah, you see something like that
in some collectors magazine,
but you to be able to hold it, that's the biggie.
- [Frank] To actually own it.
The prospect of this deal on the back end could be huge.
- We're all looking for the Lou Gehrig, you know?
- Want these?
- They help. - Check it out.
- I'm telling you,
they do help. - Fit the situation.
- Watch this. - Now look.
See what I'm saying?
- I really wanted to find
Lou Gehrig's signature on that ball.
(indistinct)
- I don't know, you got my glasses.
(laughter)
Let me see.
- [Jacob] That looks like his last name.
- Yeah, but this name starts with an M.
- Yeah, you're right.
- So before we heard the information from Mike,
he said you would be interested in selling it.
I think if I was going to be able
to sell it to somebody else,
I would have to spend the $300 to have it authenticated,
because that'd be the only way to go.
That way nobody could come back on me or anything like that.
So I'd have it, you know, he said it was like around 2000.
I'd have to spend 300 on it, you know?
- Yeah.
- I realized in the moment
that he was getting ready to throw a number out,
and to be honest, I love history,
and I love being able to own a piece of it.
I really don't know that I can let it go.
- How about 2000?
(tense music)
- Well, he also said that it could be
up to five to seven or more if we could figure it out
the Lou Gehrig part.
- If it has Lou Gehrig on it.
- Yeah, if it has Lou Gehrig on it.
- And that's a big if.
- Yeah, it is, but--
- I'm banking on the Babe Ruth here
and the 300 on having it authenticated.
- Frank's offering 2000,
and then he's really leaning into the $300
he's gonna have to spend to get it authenticated.
And Jacob's coming back at him going, hey,
there's that chance, there's that chance,
and I get it.
I mean, this is a big deal.
- All right, you heard what Mike said?
What would you feel comfortable selling it for?
- The main reason I would let the ball go today
is to help fix the building to get it back in shape.
- I'm at 3000 'cause he said there's a possibility
of making a lot more.
- Depending on what he finds.
- Yeah, depending on what you find.
- But he might not find anything.
- That's true.
- This is a big deal for both of them.
Frank's taking a risk and Jacob kinda is too,
but Jacob washes his hands with it and he's done.
Frank is the one left to, I guess what you say,
pick up the ball and run with it.
- Can you give me a little wiggle, 28?
- I see what Frank's doing.
I understand the risk that he's gonna take.
- Frank, I'm at three grand on that one.
- I mean, it's got some.
- He looks at me.
I give him a little bit of a nod just to say,
you know, if you're into this, I'm into it too.
- I mean, it's a cool piece.
I mean, sure.
He was famous, he signed lots of balls,
but this could be a World Series ball,
and they didn't go to the World Series every year.
You took a chance on it when you bought it,
I'll do the three, I'll take the chance too.
- Okay.
- You got deal.
Thank you.
I am definitely gonna have this authenticated.
I think that $300 is well-spent money.
This is going up from with me.
- All right, I figured that, yeah.
- Of course.
- I'm really happy to move it on to the next person,
but I'm more happy that it's going towards the building.
- Thank you, brother. - Thank you.
- Appreciate you. - You know what I see, Jacob?
- Good luck with the building.
- I see the ball gone. Nice to meet you, Bobby.
- Nice to meet you all. - Y'all be good. Be good.
- If you would've told me
that I would be walking out of this place
excited about a baseball, I'da said--
(horn honks) (laughing)
(crickets chirping)
- Being in the coin op business,
I mean, that was the way to go.
I mean, I don't care if you're dropping a quarter
in a foosball table,
or you're dropping a quarter
and listening to Gladys Knight and the Pips,
it gives you relief and release from your everyday thing.
(pinball machine jangles)
- Well, you know what, if that's true,
why don't I get a pinball machine?
Stick it in the back,
and it can be a stress reliever for you.
- That'd be cool. (tires screech)
(upbeat music)
(air whooshes)
(upbeat country music)
- Me and Mike are gonna go on a lead
that we've had on the books for a long time, Ross and Angie.
Ross' grandfather used to have a coin op operation.
All right, I think this is it right up here.
This is it. (engine hums)
- We're miles away from home.
When you're a picker,
you think about properties like this.
This is the address, I think.
We're gonna tear it up, man.
I mean, we've gotta make every pick count.
Hello!
- This has gotta be it.
It's gotta be it. - [Mike] Hey, guys.
- [Angie] Hi.
- I wasn't sure if this was the right place.
Hi, I'm Mike. - [Frank] Hoping
it'd look like it. - I'm Angie.
- How ya doing? - Hey, Angie.
- Good, how are you? - Nice to meet ya.
- [Mike] What's your name? - Ross Neal.
- All right, we're in the right place, this is it.
This is Ross. - How ya doing, Ross?
- Good to meet you guys.
- Danielle said you guys had a cool story
as far as your grandfather being involved
with the vending machine route business.
- My grandfather was in the vending machine business
since the '50s.
He passed away in 2003. - Okay.
- [Ross] The building's been vacant ever since then.
- [Mike] So this is the building that he stored things in
for all these years?
- Yes, this is where he actually operated
his business out of.
This warehouse was my grandfather's.
It wasn't just his business,
but it was really his life.
We're having a little trouble with the roof,
and I'm really afraid
that a lotta the stuff's gonna go to waste.
I'd like to find new homes for the stuff.
- We're excited to look.
Can we take a look? - Absolutely.
- All right, let's check it out.
Ross says, you know what?
We don't have any electricity here.
- [Ross] Hope you guys brought your flashlights.
- We got flashlights. - We're professionals.
(Angie laughs)
You called the right guys.
All right, Frankie.
(Frankie whistles) - Oh my gosh.
- [Mike] Ooh, Frankie.
When we walked into Ross and Angie's building,
Frank and I are looking at a lotta inventory.
We're looking at a lotta busted up pinball machines.
Disco fever, baby.
A lotta busted up jukeboxes.
"Boogie Oogie Oogie," a Taste of Honey.
- This place is huge.
I mean, there's a lot to look at.
What do ya got here hiding?
(suspenseful music)
Oh my gosh, Pong.
Hey, you know there was a machine that I walked by.
It's called Magic City.
- [Ross] Uh huh.
(triumphant retro music)
Yeah, the reason this intrigued me
was because it was only a single player, you know?
And most game you look at, they're double players.
The fact that it's a Magic City machine,
it's a single player makes it rare.
It's got a little damage.
Can see it's starting to peel off a little bit.
- [Mike] Right.
- I found out recently the pinball machines
aren't quite as expensive to fix as I thought in the past.
So whenever I can find one
that's nearly complete, has great subject matter,
I'm gonna buy it.
What were you thinking on this?
- I might go 450 on this. - 450 on it?
- Yeah, that's it. (spring boings)
Unfortunately, I can't fire this thing up
to see if it's working or not.
I'd take a chance on it for 150.
- [Ross] Okay, yeah,
I don't think I quite let it go for 150.
- [Frank] How come?
- It's definitely one of the ones
that's in better shape.
- [Frank] Does $200 help you out any?
(suspenseful music)
- I could go 300.
- I just couldn't do that.
Ross' wife keeps giving him like the look,
you know, so I think my best strategy
is just hang back and see what happens.
All right, I'm gonna keep looking.
- Sell that thing.
Come on, you can do it.
- I'll take $200 for it. - 200, all right.
Got a deal.
You know, it happens so many times.
(Angie laughs) We have to figure out
who's in charge.
- I'm proud of you. - It's hard.
(upbeat country music)
(objects clinking)
- Hoo, this is pretty cool.
- That's kind of a cool little hockey machine.
- Oh yeah, look at this, Frank.
It says Stanley Cup on it.
That's cool.
It's got neat graphics.
All of a sudden, I see the item I've been looking for,
something that I have interest in,
and that came in the form of the Stanley Cup hockey machine.
This thing is so cool.
Rangers verse the Blackhawks, baby.
- [Frank] Ew, the Blackhawks.
- Chicago, my friend.
Ew, love that.
So if some hockey nut is looking for a machine
for his man room, this is it.
It's awesome.
What do you value this at?
- Oh, about $400. - $400?
- How about two and a quarter?
- [Ross] How about 275?
- How about 250?
- Sold.
- All right.
- Knew you guys were gonna make it.
- All right, we got there eventually.
(Mike vocalizes and giggle)
- You got it? - You got it.
- I got it.
I bought the Stanley Cup game for 250.
I'm not sure what it's worth,
so I'm gonna have it appraised.
- [Frank] I bought the Magic City pinball for $200.
I think it's gonna be an easy fix,
maybe a hundred dollars.
I think I can get at least 500.
- Thank you so much. - Nice to meet you all.
- All right, we'll see ya on down the road.
- It was a lot of fun.
I think my grandfather woulda loved to have been here
and to have been sharing these stories with those guys.
(van horn honks) - [Ross] Bye!
- See ya later! - [Angie] Bye!
(van engine hums)
Frank, this is it, South side of Chicago, baby.
Food capital of the world.
They got the Chicago dog. - [Frank] Right.
- [Mike] You got the hot Polish.
You got the Polish. - [Frank] Right.
- You got the pizza.
You got the hot links.
Everything is at your fingertips right now.
This is where I cut my teeth when it comes to hot dogs.
- Maybe that's why you kinda got the shape of a hot dog
'cause you're tall and thin.
- [Mike] What have you been eating then?
- [Frank] Pears.
(upbeat music)
(air whooshes)
(phone rings)
- Dani D, what's up? - [Danielle] Hey, what's up?
- What do you got for us?
What's here?
- All right, I'm gonna send you to a guy named Hector.
- Hector. - He's got a great story.
He's basically got a clean-out business
with old buildings, old houses, stuff like that.
But what's different about this is that Hector is a veteran
and he employs old vets as well.
- Very cool.
- He's just been holding on his stuff
that he thinks is valuable.
And I think he's got a lotta good stuff there.
I think you guys should go check it out.
- [Mike] Heck yeah. - Cool.
- [Mike] Send us the address.
- All right, later, guys. - [Mike] Bye.
(upbeat music)
Are we close?
- [Frank] Looks like we're close.
I think it's right around here.
- It's very cool that he's employing vets.
- [Frank] It's really cool, yeah.
- Oh, there it is right there, Junk Vets, Junk Vets.
(van horn honks) - Let me get a flyer.
(bird chirps) (van door slams)
Hey, are you Hector? (dog barks)
- [Hector] How ya doing?
- [Mike] Hey, I'm Mike. - Mike.
- Good meet you, my friend.
- Frank. - Nice to meet ya.
What we do at Junk Vets,
we're a full service junk removal company.
So we remove just about anything you need gone,
from sale of house clean out, to attics, basements, garages.
We get it, we donate, we recycle.
And then in the process, we find some stuff.
This business has changed my life.
When I got back out of the Marines,
I wanted to do something where you tied in
with the community and help people out.
You know, and this job is some of where
guys come out of the military and it's nice
'cause they have a job to come to,
and they're helping people,
helping the environment, and they connect.
And it's something special, it's pretty neat.
- Hey man, thank you for your service.
- Absolutely, appreciate it. - I mean that.
- Appreciate it. - Appreciate you guys.
Appreciate ya. - Yeah, doing something good.
- What's happening?
Hector is literally living the American dream.
He has his own business.
He's his own boss,
but he's taking it another step.
He's actually helping other vets through this whole process.
It's brilliant and it's honorable.
All right, so show us around a little bit.
- So this is the organized chaos.
This is where everything comes in.
We dump it.
So no rhyme or reason here.
- [Mike] You got some space in here.
- [Frank] I feel like I'm in the world's
biggest garage sale.
- Hey, I had those, Frank.
What about you, Lincoln Logs?
- [Frank] Lincoln Logs, I had 'em.
- So the stuff we can get out, like say 99% of it,
it's either donated, recycled, and then in process,
we get that 1% of that little piece.
That's really cool.
We set aside, it adds up and-- - [Frank] A little nugget?
- [Hector] Yeah.
- I mean there's household stuff, portraits.
There's paintings, there's signs.
- [Hector] Oh yeah, we get a lotta cassettes.
- [Mike] I know, I see that.
There's albums.
I mean, there's everything here.
Wow.
- Picking isn't my business.
My business is clean outs.
So whatever I sell today,
I'm gonna have money that's going
to the American Legion Post 697.
This is gonna benefit other veterans.
- Hector is a guy that's not only helping veterans
and his community, but he's taking it a step further,
and he's giving to his local chapter of the American Legion.
That's something I wanna be a part of.
- Here, look at this.
- [Hector] That's a Comiskey Park chair right there.
- [Mike] No kidding, Comiskey Park Chair.
Where'd you find that at?
- Someone's basement.
I did a clean out.
The lady told me, she was, "That's from Comiskey Park."
- Comiskey Park, the White Sox.
The first professional baseball game I ever went to
was a White Sox game at the old stadium.
And then you'd go across the street to JJ's
and get yourself an Italian beef with some peppers,
a little bit of red sauce.
And man, it was an event.
Got my hot dog, I got my beer.
I gotta own it,
and I know I'm not the only guy that feels that way.
So what would you want for this thing?
Would you sell this?
- You know, I've seen 'em about 200 bucks.
(upbeat music)
- I'm gonna do it.
I love it, thank you. - [Hector] It's yours.
- Appreciate that.
Hector's a good guy.
He's doing amazing things.
There's no reason to negotiate.
(cash register dings)
- You remember I told you about the 1% of cool stuff, right?
This, I think, is one of the...
- This is one of your 1%s? - [Hector] I think so.
We did a cleanup a little over two years ago.
It was as if somebody moved and moved all their stuff out
and he had all this trash,
and I believe it was Dwayne Wade.
(suspenseful music)
- Miami Heat.
I'm not a huge basketball fan,
but I know who Dwayne Wade is.
- Guys started off in Marquette
and then he played for the Heat.
Then he played for the Bulls and the guy's big.
- No way. - Oh, that's cool.
- [Mike] That's him and Shaq.
- [Hector] This is signed by Shaq to Dwayne.
That is cool.
Look at that photo, man.
"To Dwayne," yeah, "you're a truly the best guard
"I have ever played with.
"As a matter of fact, you are the best ever, the Shaq."
No kidding.
What else did you get out of there,
just the photographs?
- Some personal effects.
- [Frank] So he starts bringing out some of his clothes.
- That's his number?
- [Frank] Number three. - [Hector] Yeah, Number three.
- [Mike] That's a shirt, USA basketball.
- [Frank] He starts bringing out some pictures
from the whole team that signed it.
He's got pictures of other basketball players.
- [Mike] Oh, that's Michael Jordan, 1982.
- [Frank] He's got bobbleheads.
I mean, there's a huge stash here.
Oh, when he was younger.
- Be nice to get this back to him.
- That's something I'm not gonna sell.
Some way, I'm gonna get that back to him.
- [Frank] Sure. - [Mike] Yeah,
I don't blame ya.
- There's even personal stuff here
like a dog eared 4th grade photo, wow.
- [Mike] The personal items,
mixed with the sports memorabilia,
brings it all together.
This stuff is the real deal.
Nice. - We also got his draft pin.
- No, really?
Look at that, Frankie. - [Frank] What year?
- [Hector] '03.
- There's an amazing amount of stuff here,
but sports memorabilia really isn't our thing.
Have you had anybody look at this stuff?
- No, not yet, but I have the contract
that I actually did the job,
and I have proof of the payment and pictures that was there.
- I'm not a basketball guy,
and we buy very few pieces - [Frank] Not too much sports.
- [Mike] that are sports-related.
I don't really come across anything
that's really new or like this.
So I've never really taken the temperature on the market.
I've read stories and stuff
about how there's a lotta reproduction
things out there. - Lotta reproductions
out there. - And that's why
it's kinda scared me away sometimes when I find baseballs
or footballs that are signed, you know?
I just kinda back off on a little bit,
but we know people that handle these kinda things, you know?
- We're not really interested in buying this stuff,
but we really should set Hector up
with somebody that can tell him the value of this stuff.
- I know a guy named Leighton Sheldon.
He's outta New Jersey,
really sharp, deals in a lotta sports memorabilia.
We can send some pictures to him.
- [Hector] Good.
Some of it, I'm obviously can give it back to him.
You know, I'm gonna find a way back to him.
- Hector gets paid for the clean outs,
but a lotta this other stuff that comes his way,
he feels comes his way for a reason.
And that reason is to donate to the American Legion.
So whatever he gets from this sports memorabilia stuff
goes that way, so we start snapping pictures.
Okay, pull that one off. - Gotcha.
- [Mike] This is pretty funny, man.
- That's awesome.
- [Mike] That's awesome.
- [Frank] If you're going clubbing.
- [Mike] Number three on his butt.
- [Frank] You know it.
- We get 'em off to our buddy Leighton.
I want Hector to get as much
as he possibly can for this stuff.
I mean, this is all his work.
What else you got to show us?
These are all the photos?
- [Hector] Yeah, there's a lotta photos
in different boxes here.
- [Frank] Mike and I are picking Hector's junk business.
This guy has a massive space
and a gift for finding treasures in other people's castoffs.
(phone rings)
- It's Leighton.
Leighton?
- [Leighton] Hey Mike, how are ya?
- Earlier today, Hector showed us a massive stash
of sports memorabilia that belonged to Dwayne Wade.
So Frank and I shot off pictures
to a sports memorabilia expert.
Hey, did you get the pictures of that stuff?
- [Mike] Leighton owns a vintage sports card
and memorabilia company in New Jersey.
And this stuff is well outta our wheelhouse.
We're not interested in buying,
but Hector is doing a great thing.
Whatever he's gonna make off of this stuff,
he's donating to the American Legion.
I wanna be a part of it.
- All right, pair of jeans.
There ya go.
- [Frank] That's your number three.
- What can you tell me about these?
- Okay.
All right, you remembering that, Frank?
- Putting it in there, 50 to a hundred.
- 50 to a hundred, all right.
Which other piece?
- What can you tell us about this?
- [Mike] Okay. - [Frank] 200 bucks.
So we're going through everything piece by piece.
- And then there was Tom Crean,
his coach, that was also signed.
- [Leighton] Yeah. - Did you see that?
- [Mike] $25, okay.
There's an off gray shirt that says USA Basketball on it.
- [Leighton] Did you get the early photo of Michael Jordan?
- [Frank] So it's adding up. - [Mike] All right.
Which other piece?
- Okay.
(upbeat drum music) - Wow.
- That's a good little piece.
- I'm like, wow, I know it was cool,
but to find out it's worth that is pretty exciting.
(ominous music)
- [Mike] So this is a dig on Kobe Bryant?
(Mike chuckles)
- [Mike] This is pretty cool
because it's one pro to another,
and it was meant to be just to him.
- Yeah, that is very cool.
What's it worth?
- Really? - Wow.
- Man, that's awesome.
- That's good. Good score on that one.
- We were all taken back by the value of that.
To me, this is one of those pieces
that like takes him across the finish line.
- Hector, you're looking at, if I add everything up,
with the $2,000, we're looking at $3,275.
- You remember that?
- I remember that.
- To find out collectively that it was over $3,000,
it was exciting.
I was very happy to hear that.
- What I'd like to do is put you and Hector together
because he comes across some really awesome stuff
and you guys might be able to do some business together.
- And I very, very, very much appreciate you helping us out.
So thanks for getting back with us so fast.
- Thanks, Leighton.
- Okay, bye bye. - All righty.
- So that's good, huh? - Yeah.
- That's good news. - Good news.
- It's really neat.
It's a lot more than I thought.
And it makes ya feel good 'cause you know what?
We're gonna make a good buck off this.
It allows us to give that money back to the Legion.
- I appreciate it, man.
Appreciate you.
- Thanks for letting us look around.
- Thanks for coming out. - All right.
- You bet. - Let's load some
of this stuff up. - [Frank] Right.
- And a good day, good day for you.
- Yeah, it was nice.
It was nice.
- Veterans like Hector fought to protect our freedom
and the American dream.
I love what you're doing. - Thank you.
- You got a lot to be proud of. Thank you very much.
- I appreciate you guys coming out.
- Appreciate you.
- [Frank] Thanks, give us a call now if you find some stuff.
- I will.
Oh, I was really excited about the day.
To see somebody picking, why they're doing it?
You really gotta have that appreciation for history
and you gotta have an appreciation for old stuff.
So to see them in here and have that appreciation
for stuff like I do, it was really neat.
(van horn honks)
- Junk Vets rock!
(upbeat music)