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New River, Arizona (KPHO) — Scott Cooper looked through the hand full of items the crooks left behind.
But make no mistake, whoever broke into his garage made sure to take the most valuable pieces of his sports memorabilia collection.
“I had autographs from Satchel Paige, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle,” said Cooper. “A lot of the old-time Hall of Famers. I had a lot of them.”
The Valley realtor estimates the burglars who targeted his New River home back on Aug. 25 got away with more than $100,000 worth of sports collectibles.
Among the items stolen:
A Cal Ripken Jr. autographed kid’s baseball glove.
A team photo of the 1981 World Champion Boston Celtics, signed by all the players.
Autographs from Barry Bonds, Sandy Koufax, Stan Musial
And the list goes on.
Cooper claimed he had more than 10,000 autographs that he’d collected since he was 10 years old going to different ballparks and seeking out players.
“All of the countless hours and days that I’ve spent seeking out those autographs,” said Cooper. “Everything that I have to show for it is pretty much gone.”
The sports collector insists there weren’t many people who knew about his collection, and even fewer who knew where he kept it, leading Cooper to believe that the thief may be someone he knows or knows his family.
Cooper posted on Facebook that he’s offering a $20,000 reward for anyone who knows what happened and gets his sports memorabilia collection back.
“A $20,000 reward is pretty hefty, so I mean, that’s a good incentive,” said Cooper.
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