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Millions of dollars in rare baseball cards, including 1952 Mickey Mantle cards, believed stolen in Dallas

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A sports card dealer claims a man stole about $2 million worth of rare baseball cards and inventory from a Texas card exchange Sunday in a concerted effort that was captured on video.

Ashish Jain, owner of Legacy Cardz, posted security camera footage on X and photos of the cards allegedly stolen from the Dallas Card Show at the Marriott Dallas Allen Hotel and Convention Center in Allen, Texas, on Sunday. The police report lists four unidentified male suspects.

“Surveillance footage shows a group of organized individuals entered while one distracted the victim, the other entered and took the briefcase full of cards and left before anyone realized what had happened,” said Allen Police Officer Sammy Rippamonti. The Athletics.

According to a police report obtained by The AthleticsJain said on X that the briefcase contained some of the most valuable baseball cards on the market.

“It was the one with all the meat,” Jain told Cllct of the briefcase. “They knew which one to get.”

Among the pieces in the case were six 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle cards and two 1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson rookie cards, Cllct. said. The most valuable of the Mantle rookie cards had a PSA grade of 6 (on the 10-point card condition grading scale), which Jain sold for $175,000.

“The guy who pulled the suitcase from under the table in the center of the square of tables had been stacking chairs at the booth for over an hour, and we assumed he worked there,” Jain wrote on X. “These guys had been watching us all day after watching the footage, and they even went through a process of changing clothes. It was predetermined and targeted, because they knew exactly which suitcase to grab, which contained a large portion of my inventory.”

According to Rippamonti, investigators are using all available tools to track down the suspects, including fingerprint and facial recognition technology. Other vendors have also been a useful resource.

“One thing we’ve learned from the trading card community is that it’s a very tight-knit group, they all know each other pretty well because they all do shows together, so they’re all on their guard,” Rippamonti said. “Our agents have been questioning anyone who was in the area who might have had information, so it’s become very well known in the card community that this incident happened, and they all seem to be sticking together and trying to help, which is great.”

While there have been minor incidents at the annual Dallas Card Show with the occasional missing card, Rippamonti said there has never been a case of this magnitude. He said police plan to beef up security to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

On Monday, Jain offered a $70,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the case.

Jain shared photos of the inventory reportedly taken from the suitcase, which included nearly 20 Willie Mays cards, Honus Wagner cards and a PSA 10 (gem mint) Tom Seaver rookie card worth $90,000.

Jain did not respond to requests for comment.

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(Photo: Matt Dirksen/Colorado Rockies/Getty Images)