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Posted By: marshall barkman

The weather is brrrr cold and there is like 4-5 inches of snow with ice. Last year in a similiar storm a friend of mine picked me up to head to a huge auction on the Eastern shore which is 3 1/2 hours away. He picked me up at 5 in the morning and the storm was not supposed to hit until 12 noon. When we arrived at the auction it was spitting snow and knew it was going to get worse. The reason we went is because there was alot of old baseball cards and generally great antiques everywhere. Because of the storm not many folks attended.



He bought a 52 Bowman Mantle and also a Red Cobb which looked to be a 6. I bought artwork, some fine William Spratling silver, about 100 clean 52 topps commons and maybe 50 to 60 Vg to ex t-206's. We were thrilled with the prices we paid and left the auction around 4.



Once we got to the Pa line the roads were treacherous. He had just bought a brand new F-350 dual cab and it was handling the weather fine. We were 5 miles from home when a tractor and trailer came over on us and when my friend swerved he lost control, the truck went round and round about three times and then woosh over the bridge we went and crashed into a tree about 25 feet below.



I remember waking up looking out at the sky and thought well i must be dead, at least i'm not in hell(lol). I looked over at my pal and he was F'ed up. I pulled myself out of the truck and jumped to the ground because the truck was sideways. When i stood up i immediatly fell again and thought this is not good. All of this took place in a matter of seconds but seemed like hours.



I could not pull him out through the windshield and we had blood flying everywhere. Finally a paramedic and cop pulled me out of the wreckage and started asking me what happened. I instantly shook lose because on the ground was the 52 Bowman Mantle and i thought holy **** our cards must be everywhere. Frantically i ripped off my shirt to wrap my hand so i would not get blood on the cards and started picking them up in the snow as this policeman followed me asking me to stop and please talk to him. I told him to F'off because my friend would have killed me if i did not find the Mantle and Red Cobb no matter how bad the injuries and he got pissed.



After finding the Cobb and the little box of mine with the t-206's and 52 commons which opened in the accident so half the cards were in the snow i put all the cards in the box and headed to the ambulance with the cop who was reading me the riot act. The gal paramedic asked me if i was crazy and that to immediatly let her check me out. Meanwhile the jaws of life were cutting my friend out and i was like man this is not good. The weather was 10 degrees and it took 1 hour for them to cut him out. In the ambulance she patched up my cuts and wanted to take me to the hospital but i said not without my friend, we will ride together and i gave the cop the details of what happened.



The paramedics were very upset with me but i could have cared less and when they brought my buddy over on the stretcher he was messed up pretty good like. He wheeled in up on the ambulance and off we sped to the hospital. At first he just stared up at the ceiling and i thought hmmmm does he know i am here because he was in a neck brace with a oxygen mask on. I said Gary it's me are you alright. He lifted his arm and the paramedic got mad so i said he wants to talk let him talk. The gal then lifted the mask off and he said man i am F'ed up but is the Red Cobb ok? I nearly lost it, the paramedics got upset and put the mask back on and then gave me hell for laughing at him.



Once inside the hospital i laid down on the bed and must have passed out. I awoke when Gary's brother asked me what in the hell happened as he approached with the doctor. The doctor who i know asked me how i was feeling and pointed to the table beside me and there was the box of cards. He smiled and said i had a feeling it was you when the nurse said at the accident some nut was wandering around in the snow hunting baseball cards instead of being treated.



We walked over to Gary's room and he had a broken leg, 4 broken ribs, a cut on his knee that required 28 stitches and a broken wrist. I needed 12 stitches on my wrist,6 stitches above my eye and my head felt like someone hot me with a bat from the concusion. When i approached the bed he said where is the Cobb? I picked it out of the box and it was still in the card safe 1 holder with no damage, he said Thank God.



All of the nurses rolled their eyes and one chewed me out for not understanding how severe the accident was. I was like lady trust me i understand the severity but we love cards and no way no how was i going to leave them behind.



Sorry for the long story but i am about to head out in this weather and i still bust a gut thinking in the ambulance when they removed the mask his first response was "Man i am F'ed up but is the Red cobb ok"?