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Tampa doctor quietly amassed one of world's most impressive baseball card collections

Experts suggest the collection could fetch as much as $20 million.

TAMPA, Fla — From Mickey Mantle and Lou Gehrig to his mint condition Babe Ruth, Tampa’s own Dr. Tommy Newman had a passion for collecting.

“I think next to his wife, Nancy, he probably loved the cards almost as much,” said longtime friend and fellow collector, John Osterweil.

As the owner of South Tampa’s Memorabilia Magic, Osterweil also has hundreds of balls, cards and autographs of his own but says Newman was in a different league.

“Whenever he had money to spend, he always went out and bought the very best he could buy,” Osterweil said. “I saw some of his cards early on and even later in life and they were just beyond spectacular.”

Newman’s wife, Nancy, says her husband’s love for collecting likely came from his father who had one of the world’s best collections of Rolls-Royce motor cars in the world. She says Newman began collecting baseball cards from an early age and had a special eye for quality.

“There probably wasn’t a day that he didn’t do something with his collection,” Nancy recalls

She says when her husband passed away earlier this year from complications related to COVID-19, she and the family had to decide what to do with the massive collection.

“I would say they were probably millions of pieces of memorabilia,” Nancy said. “He had a huge antique safe. It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever seen.”

The family ultimately decided to auction the entire collection off.

Its since been cataloged and transported out to California ahead of an auction set to begin in mid-June.

“It’s one of the Top 10 collections known to exist in the world,” said JP Cohen, President of Memory Lane Inc, the company in charge of putting on the auction. He says the cards up for auction range in value from a few hundred dollars to the crown jewel of Newman’s collection -- a 1933 Babe Ruth in mint condition.

“We expect that to go north of $5-million. So it could break the world record for an individual card,” Cohen said.

And while parting with her late husband’s prized collection isn’t easy, Nancy says Newman would have wanted his cards shared with the world.

“He would’ve never have sold the collection as long as he was alive,” Nancy said.  “He would’ve just kept making it better.  But I think the idea of it now getting in the hands of other collectors that are in love with the sport of collecting, that is just great.”

Click here for more information on the auction.

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