When Jason Hyman was a kid, he religiously listened to Atlanta Braves games on the radio.
It wasn’t necessarily to hear the exploits of Chipper Jones, David Justice or Greg Maddux. It was to hear the melodious and dulcet tones of broadcasters like Ernie Johnson, Skip Caray and Pete Van Wieren, and later Joe Simpson and Don Sutton.
The love affair with broadcasters now borders on a fetish and into a lucrative business for the 44-year-old resident of Dayton, Ohio.
While some people’s furnished basements are turned into a wine cellar, Hyman’s is a baseball cellar, 2,200 square feet of baseball history.
His basement is not only a shrine to baseball broadcasters, but his baseball memorabilia collection is a mini-Cooperstown.
It runs the gamut from 10 signed Mickey Mantle baseballs to a corner dedicated to major league umpires to a niche for baseball writers who have won the Hall of Fame Spink Award to 200 signed bats, 2,200 signed baseballs and much, much more.
How about a ball signed by Connie Mack or one signed by Pie Traynor or Cy Young?
“The Cy Young ball goes for about $15,000,” said Hyman, who keeps a supply of surgical gloves for visitors to put on before handling his priceless items.
His love for baseball
