Picture this – it’s the summer of 1986 in a small coastal town. Twelve-year-old Billy has just finished collecting his latest baseball card haul from the local convenience store. Eager to show off his new acquisitions to his friends, he rides his bicycle down to the dock by the sea. Unbeknownst to Billy, the rubber band holding together his prized stack of rookie cards has started to fray during the bike ride over.
As Billy hops off his bicycle to greet his friends Bobby and Timmy waiting on the dock, the worn rubber band finally gives way. A gust of wind catches the scattered cards and sweeps them up into the air, sending them floating out over the calm ocean waters. “Nooo!”, yells Billy in horror as he watches helplessly while his baseball card collection drifts further and further away.
Some cards blew only a short distance before gently landing on the surface of the water, weighed down by the paper stock. Others caught updrafts and were carried farther offshore before sinking beneath the waves. Within minutes, over 20,000 baseball cards had rained down and were disappearing under the sea, carried away by currents out to depths unknown. Billy was devastated – all of his savings from allowances and empty soda bottles had just been lost to the waves.
For decades those baseball cards would remain scattered across the seafloor, buried under layers of silt and sand. Occasionally a storm would stir up the ocean floor, shifting artifacts and uncovering treasures long hidden from view. In the summer of 2020, one such storm was blowing offshore from Billy’s hometown. Strong currents and waves redistributed the seafloor sediments over a wide area.
When the seas had calmed, intrepid maritime archaeologist Dr. Emily Lake set out on a research expedition. Using the latest sonar and remotely operated underwater vehicles, she meticulously mapped and surveyed sections of the seabed that had been scoured bare by the storm. On one survey transect near the dock where Billy’s cards were lost all those years ago, something caught Dr. Lake’s eye on the monitor.
Upon zooming in with the high definition camera on the ROV, she saw what appeared to be small rectangular objects strewn across an area the size of a tennis court. Sending the robotic sub down for a closer look, she was astonished to discover that the objects were unmistakably vintage baseball cards in remarkably well-preserved condition considering their several decades under the sea. Some were still intact while others had fragmented, but all retained legible statistics, photos and team logos beneath a patina of sediment.
Dr. Lake had discovered the largest deposition of waterlogged baseball cards ever found. She immediately realized the historical significance of the cards relating to the development of the sport during the 1980s. Not only were rookie cards for soon-to-be Hall of Fame players like Roger Clemens, Kirby Puckett and Wade Boggs present in the assemblage, but also rare promotional and oddball issues that would thrill any collector.
After notifying the proper authorities and research foundations of the serendipitous discovery, Dr. Lake embarked on a meticulous operation to map, photograph and carefully recover the entire concentration of cards from the seafloor without damage. It took over a month of meticulous work using the ROV, but eventually all 20,000+ cards were brought to the surface, along with whatever clues they held about coastal processes and changing conditions on the seafloor over the decades.
Back in her labs, Dr. Lake set about the painstaking work of surveying, cataloging and conserving the massive baseball card collection – now dubbed “The Dockside Deposit” based on its discovered location. Though waterlogging had taken a toll on the fragile paper and inks, cutting edge conservation techniques saved nearly all of the cards. Arrangements were made with the local historical society and museums to properly curate and exhibit the momentous find.
News of the discovery spread worldwide among baseball and history enthusiasts. One person who took special interest was an aging Billy, now in his 50s but who still remembered with fondness the cards he had lost as a boy. Intrigued to learn of the fate of his childhood collection, he contacted Dr. Lake hoping to see if any cards he owned as a kid were recognizable among those recovered. To his astonishment and delight, several of the prized rookie cards he recalled were positively identified – perfectly preserved after over 35 years on the ocean floor!
Now considered one of the most significant cache of sports memorabilia ever salvaged from the seas, The Dockside Deposit continues to be studied for clues about coastal and climate changes. Meanwhile, the collection brings joy not only to card collectors and historians, but also to an old man who can once again hold in his hands pieces of his childhood recovered from beyond where they slipped beneath the waves so long ago, having found their way back home at last.
Though separated for decades, those 20,000 baseball cards connecting a boy’s joy for America’s pastime to archaeologists’ curiosity about secrets of the sea remind us that even as memories fade, treasured pieces of our past may yet resurface if only we persist in seeking them with care, dedication and no small measure of luck. Their return shows that what is lost can sometimes be found.
