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$100,000 in rare sports cards stolen in Chicago heist

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Published  June 8, 2022 11:26pm CDT
Lincoln Square
FOX 32 Chicago

$100,000 in rare sports cards stolen in Chicago heist

A thief went to great lengths to steal a sports card collection on Chicago's North Side. The owner of the store said they literally cut brick from the building to get in through a window.

CHICAGO - It was a brazen burglary at a North Side sports memorabilia store, as thieves stole dozens of ultra-rare sports cards, including a rookie Michael Jordan.

Now, the owner of that store is asking the public to help him catch those thieves and recover his cards.

The burglar was only inside that store for a few minutes, but it was long enough to steal more than $100,000 worth of rare baseball and basketball cards.

"Thirty years of collecting gone in three-and-a-half minutes," said Ronnie Holloway, owner of Elite Sports Cards. "It puts a shocking feeling inside me."

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Holloway showed FOX 32 the now-empty case that used to display the prize cards of his collection.

"There's nothing left," he said.

The crime happened around 3 a.m. over the Memorial Day weekend, at the Elite Sports Card store in the Lincoln Square neighborhood.

Surveillance video shows one of the burglars coming in the back window after chipping out the bricks and removing the burglar bars.

Once inside, he makes a beeline for the rare stuff, quickly sweeping the most valuable cards into a bag, including a 1933 Babe Ruth card, a 1950 Jackie Robinson, a 1951 Mickey Mantle rookie, and a sealed wax pack that held a Michael Jordan rookie card worth $25,000 alone.

"He knew exactly where to go. He's taking and taking. Not missing a beat," Holloway said.

As he's leaving, the burglar appears to hand the bag to a second person outside and the video shows what looks like a two-way radio in his waistband.

Holloway believes that same thief cased his store three days earlier.

"His behavior was out of the ordinary. It wasn't the same. He was in and out," Holloway said.

Holloway has raised red flags in the sports collecting community, hoping that someone sees his rare cards and notifies police.

"If someone comes to you and tries to sell you a Mickey Mantle or Babe Ruth card at a very cheap price, I'd think twice about it. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is," Holloway said.