Firefighter Looking to Trade Large Baseball Card Collection for a Home

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Retired San Diego Fire-Rescue Firefighter Clyde Bones has many loves in his life, including his family, firefighting, baseball, card collecting, and now his new fiance, Deborah Easter Rich.

The pair met in school over four decades ago when Deborah was a cheerleader and Clyde was his school football team's quarterback.  At the time and for many years thereafter they were just friends.  However, at their 40th reunion almost a year ago, everything changed.

Despite the fact that she lived in Arizona, Deborah coordinated all of her class' reunions, the 40th reunion being no different.  That evening Clyde's friends asked him what he wanted in life, and his response was that after having been through a divorce, his heart was ready to fall in love again.  Later that night, Clyde sat down with Deborah, who was taking a break from her duties at the reunion.  Clyde thanked her for her efforts in putting the event together, and she waved it off, instead replying, "So what is this you want to be in love?"  Clyde replied, "I do. How about you?"  To which she said, "Me too."  Clyde responded jokingly, "Maybe you ought to share that with your husband?"   She informed him she wasn't married, and thus began their romantic courtship.

Less than a year later, Clyde Bones and Deborah Easter Rich are engaged, and Clyde would like to purchase a home for them.  He decided he would sell his extensive baseball card collection, valued at over $500,000 to pay for the home.  His collection is the culmination of  50 years of work, and includes over 150 Mickey Mantle cards ranging in value from $500 to thousands of dollars each.  He has also collected over 1000 autographs over the years.

Bones worked as a firefighter for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department from April 11, 1980 to March 5, 2008; however, he also spent many years in baseball, part of which was in the Major Leagues.  He explains, "I coached everything form the t-ball level, from the littlest three and four and five-year-olds all the way up to here at the Grossmont Junior College.  I was an Assistant Coach there, and I've been a Scout with the Toronto Blue Jays.  I've been the Assistant Equipment Manager for the San Diego Padres in 1989."

Initially, Bones attempted to sell the cards individually on Ebay but soon realized it would take several years to sell the entire collection in that manner.  Deborah explains, "He was getting frustrated with the Ebay because it was just taking him too much time.  So I said, 'Well, do Craig's List', and he kind of said, 'Eh, well that's kind of local.'  I didn't know that much about it because I'd never used it, so I said, 'Ok'.  We didn't realize that it went so far out as it did."

One night, however, out of frustration, Clyde Bones decided to post a message on Craig's List offering to trade his collection for a home in San Diego, California.  He immediately received a flood of e-mails from interested parties, and once the national and local media got ahold of the story, the response was overwhelming.

Deborah helps Clyde to answer all of the e-mails they receive, and so far the couple has looked at two homes and has received cash offers for portions of Clyde's collection. They are excited about starting the next chapter in their lives and look forward to having a home together. They are willing to look at homes of lesser value than the card collection, even 'fixer-upers', and have expressed that their only requirement is that it has a scenic view.  If you are interested in trading a home San Diego or would like to purchase Clyde's baseball card collection, please contact him at gueso@aol.com.



Author:Deanne Goodman - FDNNTV.com