The Philadelphia doctor who now hopes to turn his good fortune into something everyone can enjoy.
Dr. Nicholas DePace is a cardiologist by career, but his other passion is collecting sports memorabilia. He has amassed a multimillion dollar collection, and it has even been featured in the Smithsonian Baseball Book.
Dr. DePace started with Mickey Mantile and Roger Maris cards when he was eight. On December 20th, he bought through an auction house, a Honus Wagner Baseball Card for $220,000.
The owners were the School Sisters of Notre Dame based in Baltimore. One if the sisters had recently inherited the card from a family member who'd had it in a safety deposit box since 1936.
"It was a win, win, win for everybody, the nuns, the collector and the auction house," said Dr. Nicholas DePace. "And the real win is for the people who are going to benefit from this, the impoverished people that the Notre Dame Sisters serve."
The rare Honus Wagner card was produced between 1909 and 1911, and is said to be the most sought after card in baseball.
"Wherever he is sitting right now, Honus would be proud that this money from one of his pictures is going to great use," said Dr. DePace.
As for Dr. DePace's collection, with help from his curator, Ed Dolan, he plans to open a non-profit all sports museum in Collingswood, New Jersey sometime in 2011.
