Ohio attic yields millions of dollars in baseball cards - MLB

20 members of a family in Ohio are thrilled Aunt Jean was a packrat. Among the many boxes uncovered in an attic in an old Defiance home was 700 century-old baseball cards worth about $3 million, at least in the opinion of one expert.

The manufacturer and the exact date of the cards is unclear, but the cards are members of the E98 series from around 1910, according to PSA. The authenticators had dealt with fewer than 700 E98s previously in all of their years of grading cards. Now one find has yielded more more than that total, including a PSA 10 Honus Wagner and 16 PSA 9 Ty Cobb’s.

“Every future find will ultimately be compared to this,” said Joe Orlando, president of Professional Sports Authenticator.

Karl Kissner has control of the cards now. He believes they belonged to his grandfather, Carl Hench, who ran a meat market in Defiance and could have gotten them as promotional items. The plan is for the cards to go to auction, with 20 cousins in the Hench family splitting the proceeds.

PITTSBURGH — The New York Mets will have to dig out of an early-season hole without star first baseman Pete Alonso.

The leading home run hitter in the majors will miss three-to-four weeks with a bone bruise and a sprain in his left wrist.

The Mets placed Alonso on the 10-day injured list Friday, retroactive to June 8. Alonso was hit in the wrist by a 96 mph fastball from Charlie Morton in the first inning of a 7-5 loss to Atlanta on Wednesday.

Alonso traveled to New York for testing on Thursday. X-rays revealed no broken bones, but the Mets will be missing one of the premier power hitters in the game as they try to work their way back into contention in the NL East.

“We got better news than it could have been,” New York manager Buck Showalter said. “So we take that as a positive. It could have been worse.”

New York had lost six straight heading into a three-game series at Pittsburgh that began Friday. Mark Canha started at first for the Mets in the opener. Mark Vientos could also be an option, though Showalter said the coaching staff may have to use its “imagination” in thinking of ways to get by without Alonso.

“I’m not going to say someone has to step up and all that stuff,” Showalter said. “You’ve just got to be who you are.”

Even with Alonso in the lineup, the Mets have struggled to score consistently. New York is 16th in the majors in runs scored.

The team also said Friday that reliever Edwin Uceta had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. Uceta initially went on the IL in April with what the team called a sprained left ankle. He is expected to be out for at least an additional eight weeks.

New York recalled infielder Luis Guillorme and left-handed reliever Zach Muckenhirn from Triple-A Syracuse. The Mets sent catcher Tomás Nido to Triple-A and designated reliever Stephen Nogosek for assignment.

Nogosek is 0-1 with a 5.63 ERA in 13 games this season.